Advanced Diamond Technologies
The business of making diamond
www.thindiamond.com
Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc.
429 B Weber Road #286, Romeoville, IL 60446. USA
Phone: 815-293-0900
By BOB OKON found at suburbanchicagonews.com
April 15, 2007
ROMEOVILLE -- Advanced Diamond Technologies Inc. is in the business of making
diamond. Not diamonds, said company President Neil Kane, who emphasized the
difference between the singular and the plural.
Advanced Diamond Technology lead scientist Mike Moldovan is
reflected in ultrananocrystalline wafers Wednesday as he explains the process
used to make them.
photo: John Patsch
"Don't be fooled," Kane said. "We're not starting with pieces
of diamond and crushing them up."
But the Romeoville company actually is creating diamond out of methane to
formulate coatings for electronic components, pump seals and other uses.
Located in an industrial park across Illinois 53 from Romeoville Village
Hall, Advanced Diamond Technologies has gained some prestigious recognition in
three-plus years of existence.
The company was named a 2007 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Form
and was a runner-up in the Wall Street Journal's Technology Innovation Award.
What Advanced Diamond Technologies does is make diamond out of methane to
create films that are useful because of the material's hardness, conductivity
and inertness.
The company's processes were on display last week during a visit by U.S.
Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. One poster describing the
production process was titled "How to Convert $1 of Methane to $10,000 (or
More) of Diamond."
"We are literally rearranging the carbon atoms from methane and making
diamond," Kane said.
Don't be fooled either into thinking that the Advanced Diamond Technologies
is creating valuable gems in its plain production facility.
U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Clarendon Hills, quipped after a tour with Bodman
that she asked to see the diamond rings, but there weren't any.
Instead, Advanced Diamond Technologies is pioneering the development of
diamond films for industrial, electronic, mechanical and medical uses.
The company currently is working with John Crane Inc., a Morton Grove-based
supplier of sealing systems, on new pump seals that are coated with diamond film
to reduce energy consumption and save money.
"Diamond is a low-friction material," Kane explained.
Advanced Diamond Technologies last year received a $1.4 million grant from
the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency of the U.S. Government to develop
next-generation broadband communication devices.
The company employs 12 workers. Until January, it operated primarily out of
Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont, transferring technology developed by
two of the lab's scientists, John Carlisle and Orlando Auciello, who along with
Kane also are owners of the company.
Bob Okon
