On Apr 19, 9:40�pm, John Smith I wrote:
Len:

At the end of this post is your text taken from the moderates hangout
(rec.radio.amateur.moderated) ...

One major invention you didn't mention, which is just about poised to
shake the world, is the invention of "cultured diamonds." *Cultured
diamonds are absolutely real, indeed, they are more perfect and flawless
than any diamond which has ever been found in nature. *Their purity is
the same as the absolutely pure silicon quartz crystal, silicon
semiconductor material, germanium, etc. which is used by the
electronics/semiconductor industry. *This URL explains them rather well:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html

Why is this new development so important to the electronics world?

Well, present silicon technology is about at its limit. *What now limits
major increases in computing speed is the temperature limitations of
silicon. *Diamond far exceeds the capabilities of silicon and will allow
much faster computer speeds. *Until very recently diamond pure enough
for use in semiconductors was not available, and even if it was, its'
use would be cost prohibitive.

I did not include carbon crystal growth for the simple reason
that it does not have any DIRECT application to electronics.
The push to grow quartz crystals by man was an outfall of
WWII quartz crystal unit production with a war priority topped
only by the Manhattan Project. Some 37 to 38 MILLION
quartz crystal units were produced during WWII. (reference
from a paper available at Corning Frequency Control Div.)
There was only one source of natural quartz crystals pure
enough for oscillator crystals during WWII, Brazil, a neutral
in WWII. No other country had a good supply of natural
quartz, allied, axis, or neutral.

Some, not all, of the man-made crystal growth processes
were applicable to semiconductor material growth and
refining, most especially refining...first of germanium, then
silicon, and in a much later experiment, carbon (whose
crystalline form is diamond). The Army Central Electronics
Command did experiment (or contracted out) manufacture
of crystalline carbon as a semiconductor basis. The end
result turned out to be extremely difficult to perform cutting
and slicing, then the precise "doping" to introduce P- and
N-type zones to make the proper junctions. While there were
quite obvious advantages to withstand much higher termps
than silicon (that much better than germanium), the end
result was a terribly-expensive transistor that wasn't
practical for military electronics hardware.

It should be noted that there were a LOT of "blue-sky" trials
in industry and government of the 1960s, including "flat"
vacuum tubes with no filaments...everything about a triode
structure was heated to stimulate electron emission...most
of those were just experiments, the "what if" kind of thing.
Many of those appeared as PR squibs in the trade papers
of the 1960s AS IF they were "already developed" and makers
were "ready to take orders." :-)

There were so many of these experiments during the '60s
that it prompted a couple of engineers to present a "paper"
at a WESCON (big West Coast Convention, annual) about
their "Linistor," a "Linear Resistance Semi-Conductor." The
sharp folks caught on immediately that all it did was describe
the already-long-available carbon composition resistor! :-)
Needless to say the WESCON papers judges were much
embarrassed; my STL Lab Chief was on that papers
committee at the time. [carbon in crystal form is diamond]

Russian researchers are no dummies. A few years ago they
announced and demonstrated an X-Ray lens (which memory
sez might have been made of synthetic diamond?). That lens
was used as a collimator for lithography needed for area
doping and masking at extremely-small dimensions, a goal
of all semiconductor makers. X-Ray wavelengths are shorter
than deep UV now used.

Cheap quartz crystals' availability made possible the post-WWII
NTSC color TV receiver architecture (internal color sub-carrier
oscillator lockable in phase to the received color burst). Man-
made quartz crystals are the mainstay of today's ubiquitous
crystal oscillators, once in channelized radio frequency
synthesizers (brute-force method of mixing banks of crystal
frequencies) to microprocessors and microcontrollers in
everything from high-end ham transceivers to lawn sprinkler
controllers. One can get hundreds of different stock frequency
crystal units now, all under $2 apiece, from all suppliers,
OSE to Digi-Key.

Please save your diatribes of "decadent capitalist fat cats"
where they gobble up all the wealth. Go watch "American
Idol" or some other PR-driven BS show about "talent" which
is really all one big marketing exercise.

Or, you could read the "HF Digital Voice" article in QST of
April, 2007. Possibly LEARN something, rather than mumble
along about irrelevant stuff on diamonds. :-(

73, Len AF6AY