Highly oriented diamond growth on positively biased Si substrates

Abstract

Deposition of highly textured diamond films on Si(001) has been achieved by using positively bias-enhanced nucleation in microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. During the biasing period, an additional glow discharge due to the dc plasma effect appeared between the electrode and the substrate. The discharge is necessary for enhanced nucleation of diamond. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) were used to characterize the microstructure of the diamond films on Si. The results show the morphology of diamond grains in square shape with strong diamond (001) texture. XTEM reveals that an amorphous interlayer formed on the smooth Si surface before diamond nucleation.