Nanocrystalline Diamond Films Grown by Microwave Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition and Its Biocompatible Property

Abstract

Due to its unique properties such as high hardness, light transmittance, thermal conductance, chemical stability and corrosion resistance, diamond has drawn tremendous attention in last two decades. These specific properties made diamond film a promising material for cutting tools, microwave windows, heat sinks for electronic devices and diamond electrodes. However, the diamond film with grain sizes at microscale usually exhibits high surface roughness and hinders its applications in the microelectro mechanical system (MEMS) and biological field because it is difficult to be polished by mechanical and chemical methods. With the development of the chemical vapor deposition, the nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) film has been fabricated and found new applications. The grain size of NCD film is in the range of 10 to 100 nm, which inherits the properties of the diamond and possesses the unique properties of the nanoscale materials, and the morphology of the NCD film is granular or needle-like structure. The microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) has been regarded as the most promising method to deposit NCD film at low temperature. Compared to the hot filament CVD, MPCVD can grow high quality NCD film avoiding of the contamination from the filament materials. The MPCVD technique has high plasma density to activate carbonaceous compound and grow NCD film in high growth rate and low substrate temperature. The unique properties of NCD film, such as the superior electrical, mechanical and biological properties facilitate their application in various fields. The biological application, especially as a biocompatible coating, mainly includes the joint replacement implants and protective coatings and the ophthalmological prosthesis.

Recent Progress of Nanodiamond Film in Controllable Fabrication and Field Emission Properties

“…Moreover, the microwave plasma (MW) CVD is widely used to synthesize ND films on various chemically dissimilar surface substrates owing to the relatively low growth temperature, which utilizes the microwave energy to heat and decompose the gas molecules in the cavity into reactive groups, then finally obtain a high-quality ND film [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ]. For example, Cheng C.Y.…”

Influence of different pretreatments on the adhesion of nanodiamond composite films on Ti substrates via coaxial arc plasma deposition

“…Although MPCVD has been observed as a convenient method to deposit NDC films at lower temperatures than HFCVD, it has been reported that the growth rate decreases with decreasing substrate temperature in CVD methods [14]. Moreover, contamination is more likely to happen from the filament materials, which is another drawback of HFCVD [15].…”

Structural, Raman and photoluminescence studies on nanocrystalline diamond films: Effects of ammonia in feedstock

“…Moreover, it has applications in particle detectors, single photon emitters in quantum information technology [1,2,3]. Whereas the nanocrystalline diamonds (NCDs) find applications in field emission, tribology, passive element as heat spreading in electronic devices and optical coatings [4,5]. Even though diamond has several unmatched properties in comparison to its competing materials, still a lot challenges have to overcome in terms of growth and doping to use it in practical device applications.…”

“…The enhanced conductivity is generally assigned to increase in sp 2 -rich C=C bonding at grain boundaries (GBs) [6]. Further, N doping in NCDs enhances physical and mechanical properties which make them useful for applications in photocathode for photoinjectors [7], electrochemical devices that can work under higher potential window [8], microelectromechanical system [9], and biomedical devices [5]. Due to these several advantages of N doped NCD, the research interest on the study of N incorporation and its effects on growth, structural, electrical and optical properties of diamond is ever expanding.…”