Growth of gem-grade nitrogen-doped diamond crystals heavily doped with the addition of Ba（N3）2

Additive Ba(N 3) 2 as a source of nitrogen is heavily doped into the graphite-Fe-based alloy system to grow nitrogendoped diamond crystals under a relatively high pressure (about 6.0 GPa) by employing the temperature gradient method.Gem-grade diamond crystal with a size of around 5 mm and a nitrogen concentration of about 1173 ppm is successfully synthesised for the first time under high pressure and high temperature in a China-type cubic anvil highpressure apparatus.The growth habit of diamond crystal under the environment with high degree of nitrogen doping is investigated.It is found that the morphologies of heavily nitrogen-doped diamond crystals are all of octahedral shape dominated by {111} facets.The effects of temperature and duration on nitrogen concentration and form are explored by infrared absorption spectra.The results indicate that nitrogen impurity is present in diamond predominantly in the dispersed form accompanied by aggregated form,and the aggregated nitrogen concentration in diamond increases with temperature and duration.In addition,it is indicated that nitrogen donors are more easily incorporated into growing crystals at higher temperature.Strains in nitrogen-doped diamond crystal are characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy.Measurement results demonstrate that the undoped diamond crystals exhibit the compressive stress,whereas diamond crystals heavily doped with the addition of Ba(N 3) 2 display the tensile stress.     

氮氢共掺杂金刚石中氢的典型红外特征峰的表征

所有天然Ia型金刚石红外光谱中都存在3107 cm-1特征峰,而在金属触媒直接合成的金刚石红外光谱中没有检测出3107 cm-1特征峰.本文在6.3 GPa,1500?C条件下,通过Fe70Ni30触媒中添加P3N5直接合成出具有3107 cm-1特征峰的氮氢共掺杂的金刚石.红外光谱分析表明,合成的金刚石中氢有两种存在形式:一种对应着乙烯基团C=CH2中C—H键的伸缩振动(3107 cm-1)和弯曲振动(1450 cm-1)的吸收峰,另一种对应着sp3杂化C—H键的对称伸缩振动(2850 cm-1)和反对称伸缩振动(2920 cm-1)的吸收峰.通过分析发现,3107 cm-1吸收峰与金刚石中聚集态的氮原子有关,当金刚石中没有聚集态的氮元素时,即使氮含量高也不会出现3107 cm-1峰;并且2850和2920 cm-1附近的吸收峰比3107 cm-1附近的吸收峰更为普遍存在.这说明sp3杂化C—H键比乙烯基团的C—H键更广泛存在于金刚石中,从两者的峰值看,天然金刚石中的氢杂质主要以乙烯基团C=CH2存在.3107 cm-1吸收峰与聚集态的氮原子的这种存在关系为天然金刚石形成机制的研究提供了一种新思路,同时较低的合成条件也可能为氢与其他元素共掺杂合成具有n型半导体特性的金刚石提供一个较理想的合成环境.     

Growth and annealing study of hydrogen-doped single diamond crystals under high pressure and high temperature

A series of diamond crystals doped with hydrogen is successfully synthesized using LiH as the hydrogen source in a catalyst-carbon system at a pressure of 6.0 GPa and temperature ranging from 1255 C to 1350 C.It is shown that the high temperature plays a key role in the incorporation of hydrogen atoms during diamond crystallization.Fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy reveals that most of the hydrogen atoms in the synthesized diamond are incorporated into the crystal structure as sp 3-CH 2-symmetric(2850 cm-1) and sp 3 CH 2-antisymmetric vibrations(2920 cm-1).The intensities of these peaks increase gradually with an increase in the content of the hydrogen source in the catalyst.The incorporation of hydrogen impurity leads to a significant shift towards higher frequencies of the Raman peak from 1332.06 cm-1 to 1333.05 cm-1 and gives rise to some compressive stress in the diamond crystal lattice.Furthermore,hydrogen to carbon bonds are evident in the annealed diamond,indicating that the bonds that remain throughout the annealing process and the vibration frequencies centred at 2850 and 2920 cm-1 have no observable shift.Therefore,we suggest that the sp 3 C-H bond is rather stable in diamond crystals.     

Synthesis and characterization of a single diamond crystal with a high nitrogen concentration

In this paper,we explore diamond synthesis with a series of experiments using an Fe-Ni catalyst and a P3N5 additive in the temperature range of 1250-1550 ℃ and the pressure range of 5.0-6.3 GPa.We also investigate the influence of nitrogen on diamond crystallization.Our results show that the synthesis conditions(temperature and pressure) increase with the amount of P3N5 additive increasing.The nitrogen impurity can significantly influence the diamond morphology.The diamonds stably grow into strip and lamellar shapes in the nitrogen-rich environment.The Fourier-transform infrared spectrum shows that the nitrogen concentration increases rapidly with the content of P3N5 additive increasing.By spectrum analysis,we find that with the increase of the nitrogen concentration,the Ib-type nitrogen atoms can aggregate in the A-centre form.The highest A-centre nitrogen concentration is approximately 840 ppm.     

高温高压下氮氢协同掺杂对{100}晶面生长宝石级金刚石的影响

在压力为5.5–6.2 GPa, 温度为1280–1450 ℃的条件下, 利用温度梯度法详细考察了氮氢协同掺杂对100晶面生长宝石级金刚石的影响. 实验结果表明伴随合成腔体内氮、氢浓度的升高, 合成条件明显升高, 金刚石生长V形区间上移; 晶体的红外光谱中与氮相关的吸收峰急剧增强, 氮含量可达2000 ppm, 同时位于2850 cm^-1和2920 cm^-1对应于 sp³杂化 C–H 键的对称伸缩振动和反对称伸缩振动的红外特征峰逐渐增强, 表明晶体中既有高的氮含量, 同时又含有氢. 对晶体进行电镜扫描发现, 氮氢协同掺杂对晶体形貌影响明显, 出现拉长的{111}面, 且晶体表面上有三角形生长纹理. 拉曼测试表明, 晶体的峰位向高频偏移、半峰宽变大, 说明氮、氢杂质的进入对晶体内部产生了应力. 本文成功地以{100}晶面为生长面合成出高氮含氢宝石级金刚石单晶, 在探究氮氢共存环境下金刚石生长特性的同时, 也可为理解天然金刚石的形成机理提供帮助.     

锌添加对大尺寸金刚石生长的影响

利用温度梯度法,在6.2—6.4 GPa,1270—1400℃条件下,通过在NiMnCo-C体系中添加不同比例的锌粉成功合成出3 mm左右的大尺寸金刚石单晶.研究了锌添加对金刚石颜色、形貌、内部氮杂质以及晶体结晶度的影响.结果表明:随着锌添加量逐渐增加,晶体的颜色逐渐变浅,晶体的透光性增强;当锌添加比例达到3 wt.%时,晶体表面出现大量不规则的凹坑;晶体内氮杂质主要以C心形式存在,随着锌添加量的增多晶体内氮含量逐渐降低,基于锌的除氮能力总结出两种可能的除氮机制;拉曼光谱测试结果表明,在锌添加量小于3.0 wt.%的研究范围内,锌的添加有利于提高晶体的结晶度.本研究不仅有助于天然金刚石形成机制的探究,而且对丰富金刚石的种类以及扩展人工合成金刚石的应用领域都有着重要意义.     

Effects of catalyst height on diamond crystal morphology under high pressure and high temperature

The effect of the catalyst height on the morphology of diamond crystal is investigated by means of temperature gradient growth(TGG) under high pressure and high temperature(HPHT) conditions with using a Ni-based catalyst in this article. The experimental results show that the morphology of diamond changes from an octahedral shape to a cuboctahedral shape as the catalyst height rises. Moreover, the finite element method(FEM) is used to simulate the temperature field of the melted catalyst/solvent. The results show that the temperature at the location of the seed diamond continues to decrease with the increase of catalyst height, which is conducive to changing the morphology of diamond. This work provides a new way to change the diamond crystal morphology.     

FEM simulations and experimental studies of the temperature field in a large diamond crystal growth cell

We investigate the temperature field variation in the growth region of a diamond crystal in a sealed cell during the whole process of crystal growth by using the temperature gradient method (TGM) at high pressure and high temperature (HPHT). We employ both the finite element method (FEM) and in situ experiments. Simulation results show that the temperature in the center area of the growth cell continues to decrease during the process of large diamond crystal growth. These results are in good agreement with our experimental data, which demonstrates that the finite element model can successfully predict the temperature field variations in the growth cell. The FEM simulation will be useful to grow larger high-quality diamond crystal by using the TGM. Furthermore, this method will be helpful in designing better cells and improving the growth process of gem-quality diamond crystal.     

高长径比柱状金刚石的高温高压合成与机理研究

为了拓展金刚石的种类和解决金刚石工具使用过程中因把持力不足造成的使用寿命降低等, 在中国式六面顶压机上, 通过对FeNi触媒成分和工艺的优化, 成功合成出高质量长径比大于2.5, 平均粒度在0.8—1.0 mm的柱状金刚石晶体. 该晶体独特的形貌, 将极大改善金刚石工具的在使用过程中出现的"脱粒"现象. 另外, 实验中发现, 柱状金刚石晶体的生长速度也远大于传统晶体的生长速度. 采用扫描电镜(SEM)和能谱(EDS)等手段对柱状金刚石晶体及晶体周围触媒成分进行了表征; 结果表明, 柱状金刚石晶体在生长过程中存在{100}和{111}晶面拉长, 以及包覆在晶体周围的触媒成分偏析. 在此基础上, 阐明了柱状晶体生长机理.