HRD Antwerp, the diamond-grading lab, has announced that it has identified a 3.09 ct. brilliant-cut CVD diamond at its Antwerp location.

HRD Antwerp, the diamond-grading lab, has announced that it has identified a 3.09 ct. brilliant-cut CVD diamond at its Antwerp location.

CVD stands for chemical vapour deposition, a technique for growing synthetic diamonds using carbon gas. The stone is the largest CVD to come through the lab and has challenged previous assumptions regarding the size of cut CVD diamonds. The brilliant-cut stone measured between 9.36 and 9.42 mm by 5.76 mm.

HRD Antwerp utilized proprietary testing methods (D-screen and Alpha Diamond Analyzer) to determine that the stone was Type IIa and therefore potentially lab-grown. Spectroscopic techniques used to analyze the growth structure of the diamond confirmed that the stone had a layered growth structure, consistent with CVD lab-grown diamonds.

“A 3.09 ct. diamond was brought to HRD Antwerp for examination regarding the origin of the stone,” the lab said in a statement. “Analysis with various spectroscopic techniques (DiamondView imaging, UV-VIS, and photoluminescence laser spectroscopy) confirmed that the stone is a CVD lab-grown diamond. Due to the layered growth procedure of the CVD method, a very large plate must have been created in order to be able to cut a 3.09 ct. brilliant-shaped diamond out of it. Whereas previously only smaller diamonds were created by chemical vapour deposition, it now seems to be no obstacle any more to create cut diamonds of up to 3 ct.”

The full report on the diamond is available here. 

JCK