Plasma Processing of Boron-Doped Nano-Crystalline Diamond Thin Film Fabricated on Poly-Crystalline Diamond Thick Film

Abstract

Plasma treatments of boron-doped nano-crystalline diamond (NCD) thin films were carried out in order to improve their electrical properties of the films. Boron-doped NCD thin films were fabricated on well polished poly-crystalline diamond (PCD) thick films in a microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) reactor, then they were processed in methane, argon, hydrogen and B2H6 (0.1% diluted by H2) plasmas, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) results show that the surface morphology changed little during the 10 min treatment. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) results indicate that B2H6 plasma was efficient for increasing boron concentration in NCD films, while the carrier analyses demonstrates that CH4 plasma processing was effective to activate the dopants and resulted in good electrical properties.