Chemical vapour deposition synthetic diamond: materials, technology and applications

Abstract

Substantial developments have been achieved in the synthesis of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond in recent years, providing engineers and designers with access to a large range of new diamond materials. CVD diamond has a number of outstanding material properties that can enable exceptional performance in applications as diverse as medical diagnostics, water treatment, radiation detection, high power electronics, consumer audio, magnetometry and novel lasers. Often the material is synthesized in planar form; however, non-planar geometries are also possible and enable a number of key applications. This paper reviews the material properties and characteristics of single crystal and polycrystalline CVD diamond, and how these can be utilized, focusing particularly on optics, electronics and electrochemistry. It also summarizes how CVD diamond can be tailored for specific applications, on the basis of the ability to synthesize a consistent and engineered high performance product.

Single-crystal diamond nanomechanical resonators with quality factors exceeding one million

“…1. Our route taken starts with mm-sized single-crystal diamond plates of 20-40 mm thickness and o1004 surface orientation grown by chemical vapour deposition 25 . The advantage of these plates is the high material quality (single crystal, low doping) and the fact that they are commercially available.…”

“…A particularly interesting perspective is the use for optomechanical transducers that exploit all the mechanical, optical and dopant properties offered by the material. Unfortunately, fabrication of single-crystal diamond into highquality MEMS and NEMS is notoriously difficult, and only over the last few years has material amenable to nanofabrication become available 25 .…”

“…To illustrate the challenges in fabricating single-crystal diamond nanostructures, one may note that the material cannot be grown on any other substrate than single-crystal diamond itself 25 , precluding wafer-scale processing. Early diamond NEMS have therefore focused on polycrystalline diamond that can be readily grown as a thin film on various substrates, including silicon.…”

Luminescent nanodiamonds for biomedical applications

“…Nanodiamonds can also be produced by milling down larger natural or synthetic crystals. The formation of natural diamonds occurs about 200 km below the earth's surface at pressures of 70-80 kbar and temperatures of 1400-1600°C (Balmer et al 2009). HPHT synthesis reproduces these conditions in the laboratory using large presses capable of achieving similar high pressures and temperatures in a controlled environment (Bundy et al 1955;Field 1992).…”

“…HPHT synthesis reproduces these conditions in the laboratory using large presses capable of achieving similar high pressures and temperatures in a controlled environment (Bundy et al 1955;Field 1992). In CVD synthesis, hydrocarbon gas mixtures are ionised and, through a series of reactions, the carbon atoms are deposited onto a substrate to grow diamond films (Angus et al 1993;Spear and Dismukes 1994;Butler and Sumant 2008;Balmer et al 2009). DND forms in a process where carbon-containing explosives are detonated in the absence of oxygen.…”