Great Variety of Man-Made Porous Diamond Structures: Pulsed Microwave Cold Plasma System with a Linear Antenna Arrangement.

Abstract

Synthetic diamond films are routinely grown using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. Due to their extraordinary combination of intrinsic properties, they are used as the functional layers in various bio-optoelectronic devices. It is a challenge to grow the dimensional layers or porous structures that are required. This study reviews the fabrication of various porous diamond-based structures using linear antenna microwave plasma (LAMWP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD), a low-cost technology for growing diamond films over a large area (>1 m2) at low pressure (<100 Pa) and at low temperature (even at 350 °C). From a technological point of view, two different approaches, i.e., templated diamond growth using three different prestructured (macro-, micro-, and nanosized) porous substrates and direct bottom-up growth of ultra-nanoporous diamond (block-stone and dendritelike) films, are successfully employed to form diamond-based structures with controlled porosity and an enhanced surface area. As a bottom-up strategy, the LAMWP CVD system allows diamond growth at as high as 80% CO2 in the CH4/CO2/H2 gas mixture. In summary, the low-pressure and cold plasma conditions in the LAMWP system facilitate the growth on three-dimensionally prestructured substrates of various materials that naturally form porous self-standing diamond structures.