Nucleation and bulk film growth kinetics of nanocrystalline diamond prepared by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on silicon substrates

16 September 1996

journal article
Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters

Vol. 69 (12) , 1716-1718
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.118007

Abstract

Real time spectroscopic ellipsometry has been applied to characterize the substrate temperature (T) dependence of the deposition rates for nanocrystalline diamond thin films prepared by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on seeded Si substrates. With the real time capability, it is possible to determine the rates at which the diamond mass thickness (i.e., volume per area) increases during the early nucleation and bulk film growth regimes. The increases in the nucleating and bulk diamond growth rates with T for 400<T<800 °C are consistent with activation energies of ∼17 and 8 kcal/mol, respectively. The results reported here provide insights into the nature of the low-T growth rate limitations for diamond films on nondiamond substrates.

Keywords

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