Preparation and characterization of (1 0 0)-textured diamond films obtained by hot-filament CVD

Abstract

(1 0 0)-textured chemival vapor deposited (CVD) diamond films were deposited on both ultrasonically roughened and manually scratched silicon substrates using hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermally stimulated current (TSC) were used to characterize the structure, morphology, residual stress, impurities and/or defects and other properties of CVD diamond films. The results indicate that manual scratching results in (1 0 0)-texturing of the diamond films and these have improved properties due to larger grain size, fewer grain boundaries, increased fraction of diamond components and lower residual stress. The TSC results suggest two possible electronic conduction mechanisms corresponding to an activation energy E a of about 1.68 eV in the high-temperature region ( T > 500 K ) and about 0.31 eV in the low-temperature region ( T < 500 K ), respectively.