HIGH-PRESSURE DIAMOND AND CUBIC BORON-NITRIDE SYNTHESIS

Diamond and cubic boron nitride (c-BN) are most exciting materials for the twenty-first century owing to their exceptional physicochemical properties and the resulting potential applications. Two different routes have been developed for the preparation of such materials: high-pressure high-temperature synthesis (HP-HT), and low-pressure high-temperature synthesis (LP-HT). Film deposition by PVD or CVD is satisfactory for many applications, but HP-HT synthesis may be more appropriate for the growth of single crystals for selective developments. Whereas diamond is only stable thermodynamically under HP-HT conditions, for c-BN the options seem wider. The historical HP-HT synthesis of both materials is presented. In addition, new potential preparation routes for c-BN could be an important advantage of this material in the near future.