The Modern Visage

New Glass and Synthetic Diamond Foundation for Nanostructures

Diamonds Are Forever: New Foundation for Nanostructures

Devices smaller than the width of a human hair are key to technologies for drug delivery, semiconductors, and fuel production. But current methods for fabricating these micro- and nanostructures can be expensive and wasteful.

Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have fabricated a novel glass and synthetic diamond foundation that can be used to create minuscule micro- and nanostructures. This new substrate is low cost and leaves minimal waste, the researchers say, in a study published in Diamond and Related Materials.

“We’ve spent the last couple of decades throwing away plastics,” said Stoffel Janssens, the first author of the study, and a member of OIST’s Mathematics, Mechanics, and Materials Unit. “With sustainable materials like diamond and glass, we’re minimizing negative environmental impacts.”

Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill 1628 Pieter Claesz Dutch