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17th European Conference on Diamonds, Diamond-Like Materials, Carbon Nanotubes, and Nitrides

On 3-8 September 2006, I attended the European Diamond Conference held at the Estoril Congress Center, Estoril, Portugal. The Diamond Films Conference Series has evolved into the largest and best attended annual forum in the field of Diamonds, Carbon Nanotubes, Diamond-like Materials and Nitrides. In 2006, the programme covers all cutting-edge scientific and technological aspects of vapour growth diamonds, natural and synthetic diamonds, and related materials such as carbon nanotubes, diamond-like carbon and wide gap nitrides particularly cubic boron nitride. There is also an increased emphasis on carbon nanotubes.

As a conference delegate, I presented a poster on my recent work on the interaction of C₆₀ and C₆₀F₃₆ with diamond and silicon surfaces. Such research aims to investigate the newly discovered, unique diamond ‘transfer doping’ p-type conductivity, generated by fullerene modifications on the surface, which has potential industrial applications in the development of highly-sensitive diamond chemical sensor devices. Several other researchers gave me some useful feedback, and we may collaborate in future.

Some of the companies exhibiting at the conference (including Element Six of UK, sp³ Ltd of USA, and Sumitomo Electric Ltd of Japan) offered a different perspective to the academic research presented. They showed a more practical approach to the industrialisation of diamond-related technology, which is having an increasing impact on society and daily life.

I also attended a reviewer workshop organised by the conference, which explained how scientific reviews are produced for academic papers. It was helpful to understand how  academic publishing works.

Attending this conference proved invaluable for me, not only for my current PhD work, but also in providing a window into future developments in the field.

Hao Wang
St Catherine's College
Oxford