Diamond Synthesis Suppressing the Thermal Decomposition of Methane in a Hot-Filament CVD

Abstract
Diamond films have been obtained by a new hot-filament CVD method in which CH4 is dccomposed mainly by abstraction reaction with atomic hydrogens. The film obtained by this method was compared with that obtained by the method that involves the thermal decomposition of CH4 near a filament. The quality of the former was better in crystallinity and amount of amorphous carbon but slightly lower in deposition rate than that by the latter method. It is suggested that the buoyancy flow induced near the hot filament affected the transport of reactant species even at 100 Torr.