Dear Researchers,

I am trying to write a comparison report concerning artificial diamond
growth processes. Mechanosynthesis seems to be still a theoretical
approach.

My question : What could we say about Mechanosynthesis diamond
growth's production capacity
(http://www.molecularassembler.com/Papers/DMSToolbuildProvPat.htm) ?

This whole molecular assembler notion is Eric-Drexler-inspired
fantasy. Don Eigler and others have indeed positioned single atoms in
very carefully contrived experiments at liquid helium temperatures in
which it can take hours to position each atom. A one carat diamond is
about 10^22 atoms. Suppose we could speed this up by more than a
factor of one thousand and do one atom per second. Suppose further
that we could make one million assemblers all magically working in
parallel (a huge leap of faith). Then we could do 10^6 molecules per
second. Then it would only take us 300 million years to make a one
carat diamond.

Alternatively, you could do chemical vapor deposition and let nature
self-assemble diamonds in a matter of minutes. Take your pick.