To make diamond, engineers pump microwaves into metal reactors filled with hydrogen and methane, heating the gases into a glowing green ball of plasma. Soon the carbon in the methane begins to form into diamond crystals that collect on a metal plate.
Engineers can speed up the process by spraying the metal plate with diamond seeds.
It takes about a month to grow a five-inch-wide disc of the highest-quality diamond. Workers polish the disc using more diamond, then use a laser to cut it into thousands of chips.
Diamond conducts heat better than almost any material, even metals like copper.
That thermal conductivity is of diamond can be used to improve cooling.
Raytheon 
Dec 04, 2013 @ 05:32:13
