Mine is mainly for research on plasma chemistry, so it's not set up for maximum deposition rate, which is an important parameter for commercial viability. I've

Mine is mainly for research on plasma chemistry, so it's not set up for maximum deposition rate, which is an important parameter for commercial viability. I've made a 3.8 ct. unpolished stone in a 4 day run. If I were to do the laser trim (gets rid of the off-orientation edge growth) and send it out to be cut and polished, it would yield a nice DF brilliant-cut stone of ~ 1.25ct. weight. At retail, that might sell for ~$10K. Systems optimized for commercial production will get to that weight in less than 24 hours with multiple substrates. Typically, they'll grow 10 - 25 stones at once. They do this by using much higher microwave power (typically 30-60kW) at a lower frequency (915MHz) which gives a larger plasma so they can cover multiple substrates. My system is 2kW @ 2.45GHz (same as microwave ovens), so its throughput is non-commercial. But it's a nice research tool for investigating how plasma chemistry affects diamond growth. And it's fun to grow diamonds in my garden shed! :-)