Microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of nanocrystalline diamond films by bias-enhanced nucleation and bias-enhanced growth

Abstract

Effects of biasing voltage-current relationship on microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films on (100) silicon in hydrogen diluted methane by bias-enhanced nucleation and bias-enhanced growth processes are reported. Three biasing methods are applied to study their effects on nucleation, growth, and microstructures of deposited UNCD films. Method A employs 320 mA constant biasing current and a negative biasing voltage decreasing from −490 V to −375 V for silicon substrates pre-heated to 800 °C. Method B employs 400 mA constant biasing current and a decreasing negative biasing voltage from −375 V to −390 V for silicon pre-heated to 900 °C. Method C employs −350 V constant biasing voltage and an increasing biasing current up to 400 mA for silicon pre-heated to 800 °C. UNCD nanopillars, merged clusters, and dense films with smooth surface morphology are deposited by the biasing methods A, B, and C, respectively. Effects of ion energy and flux controlled by the biasing voltage and current, respectively, on nucleation, growth, microstructures, surface morphologies, and UNCD contents are confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission-electron-microscopy, and UV Raman scattering.

Ferromagnetism appears in nitrogen implanted nanocrystalline diamond films

“…A progress in the microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MW PECVD) [3] was allowed to prepare polycrystalline and nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films [4][5][6] with an excellent optical quality for possible optoelectronic applications [7][8][9]. The MW PECVD diamond films are purer than the natural diamond ones, because the extrinsically impure elements will be excluded from the composition except some inevitable hydrogencarbon contaminations.…”

Key Challenges in Diamond Coating of Titanium Implants: Current Status and Future Prospects

“…A widely adopted technique for Ti coating by diamond is the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), which produces a diamond phase using gaseous mixtures of carbon-rich reactants and hydrogen activated by hot-filaments or Micro-Wave (MW) plasmas [ 73 ]. The CVD process enables the manufacture of polycrystalline diamond layers with grain sizes ranging from a few nanometers to several micrometers, making it possible to produce polycrystalline (grain sizes > 100 nm) and also nanocrystalline (grain sizes in the 5–100 nm range) layers [ 74 , 75 , 76 ].…”

Characteristics of Diamond Deposition on Al2O3, Diamond-like Carbon, and Q-Carbon

“…14 Also, the bias-enhanced nucleation and bias-enhanced growth were developed to nucleate and grow diamond films. 15,16 The abrasion process of growing diamond films for commercial applications improves the nucleation by orders of magnitude. Diamond nucleation on the unscratched substrate surface has been recently achieved through the deposition of fullerene clusters and diamond-like carbon (DLC) films, which have been considered to play the role of nucleating agents.…”

“…Chemical seeding in ultrasonic baths exposing the substrate surface to a solution of methanol with nanocrystalline diamond particles is an efficient process in producing dense seeding that produce more dense diamond films . Also, the bias-enhanced nucleation and bias-enhanced growth were developed to nucleate and grow diamond films. , The abrasion process of growing diamond films for commercial applications improves the nucleation by orders of magnitude. Diamond nucleation on the unscratched substrate surface has been recently achieved through the deposition of fullerene clusters and diamond-like carbon (DLC) films, which have been considered to play the role of nucleating agents. − It has been reported that diamond nucleation on graphite requires a long incubation time and yields a poor nucleation density .…”