Nucleation of oriented diamond particles on cobalt substrates

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Abstract
Nucleation of oriented diamond particles on cobalt substrates has been achieved by a multistep, hot‐filament chemical vapor deposition process, which involves seeding, annealing, nucleation, and then growth. The substrates were seeded with either diamond powders, graphite powders, or gaseous carbon species. Scanning electron microscopy showed that 〈111〉 oriented diamond particles were obtained on 〈0001〉 oriented single crystal cobalt substrates. Micro‐Raman indicated that the quality of the diamond grown on the cobalt substrate was high, with a full width at half maximum of 4.3 cm−1. A very weak graphitic peak was observed on regions of the substrate not covered by the diamond particles, indicating that graphite codeposition was significantly suppressed. Scanning Auger depth profile analysis was done to characterize the diamond nucleation. Based on the experimental observations, a nucleation model is proposed.