Sapphire is a
gemstoneA gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
variety of the mineral
corundumCorundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide with traces of iron, titanium and chromium. It is a rock-forming mineral. It is one of the naturally clear transparent materials, but can have different colors when impurities are present. Transparent specimens are used as gems, called ruby if red...
, an
aluminium oxideAluminium oxide is an amphoteric oxide with the chemical formula 23. It is commonly referred to as alumina, or corundum in its crystalline form, as well as many other names, reflecting its widespread occurrence in nature and industry...
(α-
AlAluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
2OOxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
3), when it is a color other than red or dark pink; in which case the gem would instead be called a
rubyA ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires...
, considered to be a different
gemstoneA gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
. Trace amounts of other elements such as
ironIron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
,
titaniumTitanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
, or
chromiumChromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...
can give corundum blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange, or greenish color. Pure chromium is the distinct impurity of rubies. However, a combination of e.g. chromium and titanium can give a sapphire a color distinct from red.
Sapphires are commonly worn in
jewelryJewellery or jewelry is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.With some exceptions, such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to...
. Sapphires can be found naturally, by searching through certain
sedimentSediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....
s (due to their resistance to being eroded compared to softer stones), or rock formations, or they can be manufactured for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal
boulesA boule is a single-crystal ingot produced by synthetic means. A boule of silicon is the starting material for most of the integrated circuits used today....
. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires (and of aluminum oxide in general), sapphires are used in some non-ornamental applications, including
infraredInfrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
opticalOptics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
components, such as in
scientific instrumentA scientific instrument can be any type of equipment, machine, apparatus or device as is specifically designed, constructed and often, through trial and error, ingeniously refined to apply utmost efficiency in the utilization of well proven physical principle, relationship or technology to...
s; high-durability
windowA window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
s (also used in scientific instruments);
wristwatchA watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
crystals and movement bearings; and very thin
electronic waferA wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor material, such as a silicon crystal, used in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other microdevices...
s, which are used as the insulating substrates of very special-purpose solid-state electronics (most of which are
integrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s).
Natural sapphires
The sapphire is one of the two or three gem-varieties of
corundumCorundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide with traces of iron, titanium and chromium. It is a rock-forming mineral. It is one of the naturally clear transparent materials, but can have different colors when impurities are present. Transparent specimens are used as gems, called ruby if red...
, with another one being the red or deep pink
rubyA ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires...
. Although blue is their most well-known color, sapphires are made up of any color of corundum except for red. Sapphires may also be colorless, and they are also found in shades of gray and black.
The cost of natural sapphires varies depending on their color, clarity, size, cut, and overall quality – as well as their geographic origin. Significant sapphire deposits are found in Eastern
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
,
ThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
,
Sri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
,
MadagascarThe Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, East
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and in
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in a few locations, such as at "Gem Mountain", and in or near the
Missouri RiverThe Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
in the region around
Helena, MontanaHelena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
. Sapphire and rubies are often found together in the same area, but one gem is usually more abundant.
Blue sapphire
Color in gemstones breaks down into three components:
hueHue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
, saturation, and
toneLightness is a property of a color, or a dimension of a color space, that is defined in a way to reflect the subjective brightness perception of a color for humans along a lightness–darkness axis. A color's lightness also corresponds to its amplitude.Various color models have an explicit term for...
. Hue is most commonly understood as the "
colorColor or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
" of the gemstone. Saturation refers to the vividness or brightness or "colorfulness" of the hue, and tone is the lightness to darkness of the hue. Blue sapphire exists in various mixtures of its primary (blue) and secondary hues, various tonal levels (shades) and at various levels of saturation (brightness).
Blue sapphires are evaluated based upon the purity of their primary hue.
PurplePurple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
,
violetAs the name of a color, violet is synonymous with a bluish purple, when the word "purple" is used in the common English language sense of any color between blue and red, not including either blue or red...
, and
greenGreen is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
are the most common secondary hues found in blue sapphires. Violet and purple can contribute to the overall beauty of the color, while green is considered to be distinctly negative. Blue sapphires with up to 15% violet or purple are generally said to be of fine quality. Blue sapphires with any amount of green as a secondary hue are not considered to be fine quality. Gray is the normal saturation modifier or mask found in blue sapphires. Gray reduces the saturation or brightness of the hue and therefore has a distinctly negative effect.
The color of fine blue sapphires can be described as a vivid medium dark violet to purplish blue where the primary blue hue is at least 85% and the secondary hue no more than 15% without the least admixture of a green secondary hue or a gray mask.
The 423-carat (85 g)
Logan sapphireThe Logan sapphire is a flawless specimen from Sri Lanka, a cushion-cut stone which possesses a rich deep blue color and is the second largest sapphire known, weighing 422.99 carats .The Logan sapphire is named after Mrs...
in the
National Museum of Natural HistoryThe National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year....
, in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, is one of the largest
facetFacets are flat faces on geometric shapes. The organization of naturally occurring facets was key to early developments in crystallography, since they reflect the underlying symmetry of the crystal structure...
ed gem-quality blue sapphires in existence.
Fancy color sapphire
Yellow and green sapphires are also commonly found. Pink sapphires deepen in color as the quantity of
chromiumChromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...
increases. The deeper the pink color the higher their monetary value as long as the color is trending towards the red of rubies.
Sapphires also occur in shades of orange and brown, and colorless sapphires are sometimes used as diamond substitutes in jewelry. Padmaraga sapphires often draw higher prices than many of even the finest blue sapphires. Recently, more sapphires of this color have appeared on the market as a result of a new artificial treatment method that is called "lattice diffusion".
Padmaraga
Padmaraga is a pink-orange
corundumCorundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide with traces of iron, titanium and chromium. It is a rock-forming mineral. It is one of the naturally clear transparent materials, but can have different colors when impurities are present. Transparent specimens are used as gems, called ruby if red...
, with a low to medium saturation and light tone, originally being mined in Sri Lanka, but also found in deposits in Vietnam and Africa; Padmaraga sapphires are rare. The name derives from the Sinhalese word for
lotus blossomNelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus, Bean of India, or simply Lotus, is a plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae...
. The rarest of all padmaragas is the totally natural variety, with no sign of treatment.
Star sapphire
A
star sapphire is a type of sapphire that exhibits a star-like phenomenon known as
asterismAsteria, or star stone is a name applied to ornamental stones that exhibit a luminous star when cut en cabochon. The typical asteria is the star-sapphire, generally a bluish-grey corundum, milky or opalescent, with a star of six rays...
. Star sapphires contain intersecting needle-like inclusions (often the mineral
rutileRutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide, TiO2.Rutile is the most common natural form of TiO2. Two rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known:...
, a mineral composed primarily of
titanium dioxideTitanium dioxide, also known as titanium oxide or titania, is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6, or CI 77891. Generally it comes in two different forms, rutile and anatase. It has a wide range of...
) that cause the appearance of a six-rayed "star"-shaped pattern when viewed with a single overhead light source.
The
Black Star of QueenslandBlack Star of Queensland is a gem. It is the world's largest star sapphire. It was discovered in Australia in the 1930s.The gem has been involved in several ownership disputes....
is believed to be the largest star sapphire that has ever been mined, and it weighs 733 carats. The
Star of IndiaThe Star of India is a 563.35 carat star sapphire, one of the largest such gems in the world. It is almost flawless and unusual in that it has stars on both sides of the stone...
(weighing 563.4 carats) is thought to be the second-largest star sapphire, and it is currently on display at the
American Museum of Natural HistoryThe American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The 182-carat
Star of BombayThe Star of Bombay is a 182 carat cabochon-cut star sapphire originating from Sri Lanka. The violet-blue gem was given to silent film actress Mary Pickford by her husband, Douglas Fairbanks. She bequeathed it to the Smithsonian Institution....
, located in the
National Museum of Natural HistoryThe National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year....
, in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, is an example of a blue star sapphire. The value of a star sapphire, however, depends not only on the weight of the stone but also the body color, visibility and intensity of the asterism.
Color change sapphire
A rare variety of sapphire, known as color change sapphire, exhibits different colors in different light. Color change sapphires are blue in outdoor light and purple under incandescent indoor light; they may also be pink in daylight to greenish under fluorescent light. Some stones shift color well and others only partially, in that some stones go from blue to bluish purple. While color change sapphires come from a variety of locations, the gem gravels of
TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
is the main source.
Certain synthetic color-change sapphires are sold as “lab” or “synthetic” alexandrite, which is accurately called an alexandrite simulant (also called alexandrium) since the latter is actually a type of
chrysoberylThe mineral or gemstone chrysoberyl is an aluminate of beryllium with the formula BeAl2O4. The name chrysoberyl is derived from the Greek words χρυσός chrysos and βήρυλλος beryllos, meaning "a gold-white spar". Despite the similarity of their names, chrysoberyl and beryl are two completely...
—an entirely different substance whose
pleochroismPleochroism is an optical phenomenon in which a substance appears to be different colors when observed at different angles with polarized light.- Background :Anisotropic crystals will have optical properties that vary with the direction of light...
is different and much more pronounced than color-change corundum (sapphire).
Source of color
Rubies are corundum which contain
chromiumChromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...
impurities that absorb yellow-green light and result in deeper
ruby redRuby is a color that is a representation of the color of the cut and polished ruby gemstone. The somewhat deeper color of the uncut, unpolished ruby crystal is called rubelite.The first recorded use of ruby as a color name in English was in 1572...
color with increasing content. Purple sapphires contain trace amounts of
vanadiumVanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...
and come in a variety of shades. Corundum that contains ~0.01% of
titaniumTitanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
is colorless. If trace amounts of
ironIron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
are present, a very pale yellow to green color may be seen. If both titanium and iron impurities are present together, however, the result is a magnificent deep-blue color.
Unlike localized ("interatomic") absorption of light which causes color for chromium and vanadium impurities, blue color in sapphires comes from intervalence charge transfer, which is the transfer of an electron from one transition-metal ion to another via the
conductionIn the solid-state physics field of semiconductors and insulators, the conduction band is the range of electron energies, higher than that of the valence band, sufficient to free an electron from binding with its individual atom and allow it to move freely within the atomic lattice of the material...
or
valence bandIn solids, the valence band is the highest range of electron energies in which electrons are normally present at absolute zero temperature....
. The iron can take the form Fe
2+ or Fe
3+, while titanium generally takes the form Ti
4+. If Fe
2+ and Ti
4+ ions are substituted for Al
3+, localized areas of charge imbalance are created. An electron transfer from Fe
2+ and Ti
4+ can cause a change in the
valenceIn chemistry, valence, also known as valency or valence number, is a measure of the number of bonds formed by an atom of a given element. "Valence" can be defined as the number of valence bonds...
state of both. Because of the valence change there is a specific change in energy for the electron, and electromagnetic energy is absorbed. The
wavelengthIn physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a...
of the energy absorbed corresponds to yellow light. When this light is subtracted from incident white light, the complementary color blue results. Sometimes when atomic spacing is different in different directions there is resulting blue-green
dichroismDichroism has two related but distinct meanings in optics. A dichroic material is either one which causes visible light to be split up into distinct beams of different wavelengths , or one in which light rays having different polarizations are absorbed by different amounts.The original meaning of...
.
Intervalence charge transfer is a process that produces a strong colored appearance at a low percentage of impurity. While at least 1% chromium must be present in corundum before the deep red ruby color is seen, sapphire blue is apparent with the presence of only 0.01% of titanium and iron.
Treatments
Sapphires may be treated by several methods to enhance and improve their clarity and color. It is common practice to heat natural sapphires to improve or enhance color. This is done by heating the sapphires in air to temperatures between 500 and 1800 °C for several hours, or by heating in a nitrogen-deficient atmosphere oven for seven days or more. Upon heating, the stone becomes a more blue in color but loses some of the rutile inclusions (silk). When high heat temperatures are used, the stone loses all of the silk and becomes clear under magnification. Evidence of sapphire and other gemstones being subjected to heating goes back to, at least, Roman times. Un-heated stones are quite rare and will often be sold accompanied by a certificate from an independent gemological laboratory attesting to "no evidence of heat treatment".
Diffusion treatments are somewhat more controversial as they are used to add elements to the sapphire for the purpose of improving colors. Typically
berylliumBeryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl...
is diffused into a sapphire with very high heat, just below the melting point of the sapphire. Initially (c. 2000) orange sapphires were created with this process, although now the process has been advanced and many colors of sapphire are often treated with beryllium. It is unethical to sell beryllium-treated sapphires without disclosure, and the price should be much lower than a natural gem or one that has been enhanced by heat alone.
Treating stones with surface diffusion is generally frowned upon because when stones chip or are repolished/refaceted the 'padparadscha' colored layer can be removed. (There are some diffusion treated stones in which the color goes much deeper than the surface, however.) The problem lies in the fact that treated padparadschas are at times very difficult to detect, and they are the reason that getting a certificate from a reputable gemological lab (e.g., Gubelin, SSEF, AGTA, etc.) is recommended before investing in them.
According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, in the United States, disclosure is required of any mode of enhancement that has a significant effect on the gem's value.
Mining
Sapphires are mined from
alluvialAlluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
deposits or from primary underground workings. The mining locations include Burma,
MadagascarThe Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
,
Sri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
,
ThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
,
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
,
TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
,
KenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The
Logan sapphireThe Logan sapphire is a flawless specimen from Sri Lanka, a cushion-cut stone which possesses a rich deep blue color and is the second largest sapphire known, weighing 422.99 carats .The Logan sapphire is named after Mrs...
, the
Star of IndiaThe Star of India is a 563.35 carat star sapphire, one of the largest such gems in the world. It is almost flawless and unusual in that it has stars on both sides of the stone...
, and the
Star of BombayThe Star of Bombay is a 182 carat cabochon-cut star sapphire originating from Sri Lanka. The violet-blue gem was given to silent film actress Mary Pickford by her husband, Douglas Fairbanks. She bequeathed it to the Smithsonian Institution....
originate from Sri Lankan mines. Madagascar is the world leader in sapphire production (as of 2007) specifically its deposits in and around the city of
IlakakaIlakaka is a small town in Ihorombe Region in the south western part of Madagascar. In the early 1990s there were only about 40 residents in the area. However, since the discovery of world class alluvial sapphire deposits in the valley in 1998 the population had boomed to near 60,000 by 2005...
.
Prior to the opening of the Ilakaka mines, Australia was the largest producer of sapphires (such as in 1987).
In 1991, a new source of sapphires was discovered in Andranondambo, southern Madagascar. That area has been exploited for its sapphires started in 1993, but it was practically abandoned just a few years later – because of the difficulties in recovering sapphires in their bedrock.
In
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, sapphires have been mined mostly from deposits in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
: fancies along the
Missouri RiverThe Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
near
Helena, MontanaHelena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
, Dry Cottonwood Creek near
Missoula, MontanaMissoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
, and Rock Creek near
Philipsburg, MontanaPhilipsburg is a town in and the county seat of Granite County, Montana, United States. The population was 914 at the 2000 census. The town was named after the famous mining engineer Philip Deidesheimer, who designed and supervised the construction of the ore smelter around which the town...
. Fine blue
Yogo sapphireYogo sapphires are a special cornflower blue color variety of corundum found only in Yogo Gulch, Judith Basin County, Montana, United States. They are considered among the finest sapphires in the world, and by some gem experts, the finest. Sapphire mining at Yogo Gulch began in 1895, and the term...
s are found at Yogo Gulch west of
Lewistown, MontanaLewistown is a city in and the county seat of Fergus County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,813 at the 2000 census. Lewistown is located in central Montana, the geographic center of the state, southeast of Great Falls...
. A few gem-grade sapphires and rubies have also been found in the area of Franklin, N.C.
The sapphire deposits of Kashmir are still well-known in the gem industry, despite the fact that the peak production from this area mostly took place in a relatively short period at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Synthetic sapphire
In 1902, the French chemist Auguste Verneuil developed a process for producing synthetic sapphire crystals. In the
Verneuil processThe Verneuil process, also called flame fusion, was the first commercially successful method of manufacturing synthetic gemstones, developed in 1902 by the French chemist Auguste Verneuil. It is primarily used to produce the ruby and sapphire varieties of corundum, as well as the diamond simulants...
, named for him, fine alumina powder is added to an oxyhydrogen flame, and this is directed downward against a mantle. The alumina in the flame is slowly deposited, creating a teardrop shaped "
bouleA boule is a single-crystal ingot produced by synthetic means. A boule of silicon is the starting material for most of the integrated circuits used today....
" of sapphire material. Chemical
dopantA dopant, also called a doping agent, is a trace impurity element that is inserted into a substance in order to alter the electrical properties or the optical properties of the substance. In the case of crystalline substances, the atoms of the dopant very commonly take the place of elements that...
s can be added to create artificial versions of the ruby, and all the other natural colors of sapphire, and in addition, other colors never seen in
geologyGeology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
. Artificial sapphire material is identical to natural sapphire, except it can be made without the flaws that are found in natural stones. The disadvantage of Verneuil process is that the grown crystals have high internal strains. Many methods of manufacturing sapphire today are variations of the
Czochralski processThe Czochralski process is a method of crystal growth used to obtain single crystals of semiconductors , metals , salts, and synthetic gemstones...
, which was invented in 1916. In this process, a tiny sapphire seed crystal is dipped into a crucible made of the precious metal
rhodiumRhodium is a chemical element that is a rare, silvery-white, hard and chemically inert transition metal and a member of the platinum group. It has the chemical symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is composed of only one isotope, 103Rh. Naturally occurring rhodium is found as the free metal, alloyed...
, containing molten alumina, and then slowly withdrawn upward at a rate of one to 100 mm per hour. The alumina crystallizes on the end, creating long carrot-shaped boules of large size, up to 400 mm in diameter and weighing almost 500 kg.
Synthetic sapphire is industrially produced from agglomerated aluminum oxide, sintered and fused in an inert atmosphere (
hot isostatic pressingHot isostatic pressing is a manufacturing process used to reduce the porosity of metals and influence the density of many ceramic materials. This improves the material's mechanical properties and workability....
for example), yielding a transparent
polycrystallinePolycrystalline materials are solids that are composed of many crystallites of varying size and orientation. The variation in direction can be random or directed, possibly due to growth and processing conditions. Fiber texture is an example of the latter.Almost all common metals, and many ceramics...
product, slightly porous, or with more traditional methods such as Verneuil, Czochralski, flux method, etc., yielding a
single crystalA single crystal or monocrystalline solid is a material in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries...
sapphire material which is non-porous and should be relieved of its internal stress.
In 2003, the world's production of synthetic sapphire was 250 tons (1.25 × 10
9 carats), mostly by the United States and Russia. The availability of cheap synthetic sapphire unlocked many industrial uses for this unique material:
The first
laserA laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
was made with a rod of synthetic ruby.
Titanium-sapphire laserTi:sapphire lasers are tunable lasers which emit red and near-infrared light in the range from 650 to 1100 nanometers. These lasers are mainly used in scientific research because of their tunability and their ability to generate ultrashort pulses...
s are popular due to their relatively rare capacity to be tuned to various wavelengths in the red and near-
infraredInfrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
region of the
electromagnetic spectrumThe electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
. They can also be easily mode-locked. In these lasers, a synthetically produced sapphire
crystalA crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
with chromium or
titaniumTitanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
impurities is irradiated with intense light from a special lamp, or another laser, to create
stimulated emissionIn optics, stimulated emission is the process by which an atomic electron interacting with an electromagnetic wave of a certain frequency may drop to a lower energy level, transferring its energy to that field. A photon created in this manner has the same phase, frequency, polarization, and...
.
Transparent and tough
One application of synthetic sapphire is
sapphire glass. Here
glass is a layman term which refers not to the amorphous state, but to the transparency. Sapphire is not only highly transparent to wavelengths of light between 170 nm (
UVUltraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
) and 5300 nm (IR) (the human eye can discern wavelengths from about 380 nm to 750 nm), but it is also five times stronger than glass and ranks a 9 on the Mohs Scale, and much tougher than tempered glass, although not as much as synthetic stabilized zirconium oxide (such as
yttria-stabilized zirconiaYttria-stabilized zirconia is a zirconium-oxide based ceramic, in which the particular crystal structure of zirconium oxide is made stable at room temperature by an addition of yttrium oxide...
). Along with
zirconiaZirconium dioxide , sometimes known as zirconia , is a white crystalline oxide of zirconium. Its most naturally occurring form, with a monoclinic crystalline structure, is the rare mineral baddeleyite. The high temperature cubic crystalline form is rarely found in nature as mineral tazheranite O2...
and
aluminium oxynitrideAluminium oxynitride or AlON is a transparent polycrystalline ceramic with cubic spinel crystal structure composed of aluminium, oxygen and nitrogen. It is currently marketed under the name ALON by Surmet Corporation. ALON is optically transparent in the near ultra violet, visible and near...
, synthetic sapphire is used for shatter resistant windows in armored vehicles and various military body armor suits, in association with composites.
Sapphire "glass" (although being crystalline) is made from pure sapphire boules by slicing off and polishing thin wafers. Sapphire glass windows are used in high pressure chambers for
spectroscopySpectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...
, crystals in high quality
watchA watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
es, and windows in grocery store barcode scanners since the material's exceptional hardness and toughness makes it very resistant to scratching.
One type of
xenon arc lampA xenon arc lamp is a specialized type of gas discharge lamp, an electric light that produces light by passing electricity through ionized xenon gas at high pressure to produce a bright white light that closely mimics natural sunlight...
(originally called the "Cermax" its first brand name), which is now known generically as the "ceramic body xenon lamp", uses sapphire crystal output windows that tolerate higher thermal loads – and thus higher output powers when compared with conventional Xe lamps with pure silica window.
Use as substrate for semiconducting circuits
Thin sapphire wafers are also used as an insulating
substrateSubstrate is a solid substance onto which a layer of another substance is applied, and to which that second substance adheres. In solid-state electronics, this term refers to a thin slice of material such as silicon, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, sapphire, germanium, gallium arsenide , an alloy...
in high-power, high-frequency
CMOSComplementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
integrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s. This type of IC is called a
silicon on sapphireSilicon on sapphire is a hetero-epitaxial process for integrated circuit manufacturing that consists of a thin layer of silicon grown on a sapphire wafer. SOS is part of the Silicon on Insulator family of CMOS technologies...
or "SOS" chip. These are especially useful for high-power radio-frequency (RF) applications such as those found in cellular telephones, police car and fire truck radios, and satellite communication systems. "SOS" allows for the monolithic integration of both digital and analog circuitry all on one IC chip.
The reason for choosing wafers of artificial sapphire, rather than some of other substance, for these substrates is that sapphire has a quite low conductivity for electricity, but a much-higher
conductivityIn physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
for heat. Thus, sapphire provides good
electrical insulationthumb|250px|[[Coaxial Cable]] with dielectric insulator supporting a central coreThis article refers to electrical insulation. For insulation of heat, see Thermal insulation...
, while at the same time doing a good job at helping to conduct away the significant heat that is generated in all operating integrated circuits.
Once the single crystal sapphire boules are grown they are cored-sliced into cylindrical pieces. Wafers are then sliced from these cylindrical cores. These Wafers of single-crystal sapphire material are also used in the
semiconductorA semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
industry as a non-conducting
substrateSubstrate is a solid substance onto which a layer of another substance is applied, and to which that second substance adheres. In solid-state electronics, this term refers to a thin slice of material such as silicon, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, sapphire, germanium, gallium arsenide , an alloy...
for the growth of devices based on gallium nitride (GaN). The use of the sapphire material significantly reduces the cost, because this has about one-seventh the cost of germanium. Gallium nitride on sapphire is commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
Historical and cultural references
- Etymologically, the English word “sapphire” derives from Latin sapphirus, sappirus from Greek σαπφειρος (sappheiros) from Hebrew סַפִּיר (sappir) from Old Iranian sani-prijam, from Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, ' 'Shanipriya' ' (शनिप्रिय), from "shani" (शनि) meaning "SaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
" and "priya" (प्रिय), precious or dear, i.e. "precious to Saturn" or literally “dear to Saturn”.
- The Greek term for sapphire quite likely was misapplied, and instead used to refer to lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli is a relatively rare semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense blue color....
.
- During the Medieval Ages, European lapidaries came to refer to blue corundum crystal by its “sapphire-blue” color, whence the modern name for “sapphire”.
External links
- Webmineral.com, Webmineral Corundum Page, Webmineral with extensive crystallographic and mineralogical information on Corundum
- Farlang Sapphire References dozens of (historical) full text books and (CIBJO) gem information
- Mindat.org, Mindat Sapphire page Mindat with extensive locality information
- Sciencemag.org, Macroscopic 10-Terabit–per–Square-Inch Arrays from Block Copolymers with Lateral Order Science magazine article about perspective usage of sapphire in digital storage media technology
- Top Blue Sapphire Discovery