Nanodiamond Injection into the Gas-Phase During CVD Diamond Film Growth

Abstract

We describe a way of combining, in the same technological cycle, the nanodiamond particle injection from a suspension and the growth of diamond films by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD). The breaking of injected nanodiamond aggregates into particles of about 100 nm in size when they hit a substrate provides a nucleation density over 1010 cm−2. The films produced from a CH4+H2 mixture with a periodic injection of ND particles during the film growth are found to consist of diamond nanocrystallites with the traces of sp2 -hybridized carbon on them.