▪ Abstract The synthesis of nanocrystalline diamond films from carbon-containing noble gas plasmas is described. The nanocrystallinity is the result of new growth and nucleation mechanisms, which involve the insertion of C2, carbon dimer, into carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen bonds, resulting in hetereogeneous nucleation rates on the order 1010 cm−2 s−1. Extensive characterization studies led to the conclusion that phase-pure diamond is produced with a microstructure consisting of randomly oriented 3–15-nm crystallites. By adjusting the noble gas/hydrogen ratio in the gas mixture, a continuous transition from micro- to nanocrystallinity is achieved. Up to 10% of the total carbon in the nanocrystalline films is located at 2 to 4 atom-wide grain boundaries. Because the grain boundary carbon is π-bonded, the mechanical, electrical, and optical properties of nanocrystalline diamond are profoundly altered. Nanocrystalline diamond films are unique new materials with applications in fields as diverse as tribolo...

Nanocrystalline diamond films1

Substantial developments have been achieved in the synthesis of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond in recent years, providing engineers and designers with access to a large range of new diamond materials. CVD diamond has a number of outstanding material properties that can enable exceptional performance in applications as diverse as medical diagnostics, water treatment, radiation detection, high power electronics, consumer audio, magnetometry and novel lasers. Often the material is synthesized in planar form; however, non-planar geometries are also possible and enable a number of key applications. This paper reviews the material properties and characteristics of single crystal and polycrystalline CVD diamond, and how these can be utilized, focusing particularly on optics, electronics and electrochemistry. It also summarizes how CVD diamond can be tailored for specific applications, on the basis of the ability to synthesize a consistent and engineered high performance product.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0953-8984/21/36/364221/pdf

Chemical vapour deposition synthetic diamond: materials, technology and applications.

Oriented CVD diamond films: twin formation, structure and morphology

The transition from microcrystalline to nanocrystalline diamond films grown from Ar/H2/CH4 microwave plasmas has been investigated. Both the cross-section and plan-view micrographs of scanning electron microscopy reveal that the surface morphology, the grain size, and the growth mechanism of the diamond films depend strongly on the ratio of Ar to H2 in the reactant gases. Microcrystalline grain size and columnar growth have been observed from films produced from Ar/H2/CH4 microwave discharges with low concentrations of Ar in the reactant gases. By contrast, the films grown from Ar/H2/CH4 microwave plasmas with a high concentration of Ar in the reactant gases consist of phase pure nanocrystalline diamond, which has been characterized by transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, and electron energy loss spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy reveal that the width of the diffraction peaks and the Raman bands of the as-grown films depends on the ratio of Ar to H2 in...

H. Walcher

Papers

Chemical vapour deposition and characterization of smooth {100}-faceted diamond films