Electrical Microcircuits Encased within Diamond Crystals

These pictures show tiny electrical microcircuits encased within single crystals of diamond. These circuits are used to measure the physical properties of materials under pressures of up to several million atmospheres

Samuel Weir
Damon Jackson
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, California

Yogesh Vohra
Gopi Samudrala
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama

These pictures show tiny electrical microcircuits which have been encased within single crystals of diamond for use in ultra-high pressure experiments. The electrical lines are made of tungsten and are 5 to 10 microns wide, and are encased in a layer of synthetic diamond 10 to 30 microns thick.

Diamond is used for these ultra-high pressure experiments because it is the only material which has sufficient strength to withstand pressures of several million atmospheres. Diamond encased microcircuits like the ones shown here have been used to measure the electrical and magnetic properties of materials under extreme pressure conditions of up to 2.8 million atmospheres.

Usage Information

Reporters may freely use this image as long as they include the following credit: "Image courtesy of S.Weir and D. Jackson/Lawrence Livermore Lab and Y.K. Vohra and G. Samudrala/University of Alabama at Birmingham".

For further information, contact:
Jason Bardi
(301) 209-3091