Diamond coatings from a solid carbon source

Abstract

A plasma-enhanced chemical transport process was developed to deposit diamond films from a solid carbon source in a subatmospheric pressure hydrogen environment (106–400 mbar (80–300 Torr)). The process uses inexpensive simple equipment. The diamond films were examined by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. High quality diamond films were grown at 1 ωm h−1 deposition rate in static and dynamic flow systems. The effect of various surface coatings on diamond nucleation on a silicon substrate was investigated. The nucleation density on bare silicon was 4×106 cm−2. A high nucleation density up to 109 cm−2 was found on a fullerence-enriched carbon-coated silicon substrate. Diamond film morphology variations with deposition conditions were studied.