Simulations of CVD Diamond Film Growth: 2D Models for the identities and concentrations of gas-phase species adsorbing on the surface

Abstract

ABSTRACTA prerequisite for modelling the growth of diamond by CVD is knowledge of the identities and concentrations of the gas-phase species which impact upon the growing diamond surface. Two methods have been devised for the estimation of this information, and have been used to determine adsorption rates for CxHy hydrocarbons for process conditions that experimentally produce single-crystal diamond, microcrystalline diamond films, nanocrystalline diamond films and ultrananocrystalline diamond films. Both methods rely on adapting a previously developed model for the gas-phase chemistry occurring in a hot filament or microwave plasma reactor. Using these methods, the concentrations of most of the CxHy radical species, with the exception of CH3, at the surface have been found to be several orders of magnitude smaller than previously believed. In most cases these low concentrations suggest that reactions such as direct insertion of C1Hy (y = 0-2) and/or C2 into surface C–H or C–C bonds can be neglected and that such species do not contribute significantly to the diamond growth process in the reactors under study.