Method of shaping a polycrystalline diamond body
AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorsSungho Jin, Wei Zhu
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Abstract
The method of shaping a polycrystalline diamond (PCD) body (exemplarily a wafer of CVD-PCD) utilizes our discovery that the rate and amount of diamond removal from a given region of a PCD body depends, for a given metal "etchant" at a given temperature, on the thickness of the etchant layer overlying the given region, with relatively larger etchant thickness being associated with relatively higher removal rate and amount. Exemplarily, the method can be used to substantially remove thickness variations and/or film curvature from as-produced PCD films. An exemplary metal that can be used in the practice of the invention is mischmetal. The metal etchant can be molten, partially molten or solid.
Claims12
Method of making an article that comprises a processed polycrystalline diamond body, the method comprising
- a) providing a starting polycrystalline diamond body having a major surface, and transforming the starting body into the processed body by a process that comprises
- b) removing a quantity of diamond material from the major surface of the starting body, with the amount of diamond to be removed at a first location on the major surface being greater than the amount to be removed at a second location, the quantity of diamond material to be removed by a process that comprises contacting the major surface with a quantity of etchant metal such that the etchant metal is in intimate contact with the major surface;
- wherein
- c) the major surface is contacted such that, at a processing temperature, the quantity of etchant metal has a non-constant thickness, with a greater thickness overlying the first location than is overlying the second location;
- and wherein
- the quantity of etchant metal is maintained in intimate contact with the major surface until the quantity of diamond material is removed from the major surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.