Investigation of nanocrystalline diamond films grown on silicon and glass at substrate temperature below 400 °C

Abstract We present investigation of nanocrystalline diamond films deposited in a wide temperature range. The nanocrystalline diamond films were grown on silicon and glass substrates from hydrogen based gas mixture (methane and hydrogen) by microwave plasma CVD process. Film composition, nano-grain size and surface morphology were investigated by Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. All samples showed diamond characteristic line centred at 1332 cm − 1 in the Raman spectrum. Nanocrystalline diamond layers revealed high surface flatness (under 10 nm) with crystal size below 60 nm. Surface morphology of grown films was well homogeneous over glass substrates due to used mechanical seeding procedure. Very thin films (40 nm) were successfully grown on glass slides (i.e. standard size 1 × 3″). An increase in delay time was observed when the substrate temperature was decreased. A possible origin for this behaviour was discussed.

[1]  M. Orazem,et al.  The Electrochemical Society Series , 2008 .

[2]  A. Fejfar,et al.  Optical absorption and light scattering in microcrystalline silicon thin films and solar cells , 2000 .

[3]  W. Piekarczyk.  Diamond-vapour interface and processes proceeding on it during growth of diamond crystals I. Diamond (111) face , 1992 .

[4]  M. Vaněček,et al.  ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY OF NANOCRYSTALLINE DIAMOND SURFACES , 2006 .

[5]  Jai-Young Lee,et al.  Effect of reaction pressure on the nucleation behaviour of diamond synthesized by hot-filament chemical vapour deposition , 1993, Journal of Materials Science.

[6]  P. Ascarelli,et al.  Analysis and modeling of diamond heterogeneous nucleation kinetics , 1993 .

[7]  M. Stutzmann,et al.  Synthetic nanocrystalline diamond as a third-generation biosensor support. , 2006, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[8]  M. Aslam,et al.  Ultrahigh nucleation density for growth of smooth diamond films , 1995 .

[9]  Lloyd M. Smith,et al.  DNA-modified nanocrystalline diamond thin-films as stable, biologically active substrates , 2002, Nature materials.

[10]  Martin Stutzmann,et al.  Protein-modified nanocrystalline diamond thin films for biosensor applications , 2004, Nature materials.

[11]  E. Blank,et al.  Activation energy for diamond growth from the carbon–hydrogen gas system at low substrate temperatures , 1997 .

[12]  Soon Fatt Yoon,et al.  Electron field emission enhancement effects of nano-diamond films , 2003 .

[13]  H. Kawarada,et al.  Low temperature diamond film fabrication using magneto-active plasma CVD , 1992 .

[14]  M. Vaněček,et al.  Growth of nanocrystalline diamond films deposited by microwave plasma CVD system at low substrate temperatures , 2006 .

[15]  Joachim V. R. Heberlein,et al.  A review of diamond CVD utilizing halogenated precursors , 1999 .

[16]  R. Swanepoel,et al.  Determination of surface roughness and optical constants of inhomogeneous amorphous silicon films , 1984 .

[17]  E. Blank,et al.  CHARACTERIZATION OF BALLAS DIAMOND DEPOSITIONS , 1999 .

[18]  H. Kawarada,et al.  Growth of diamond films at low pressure using magneto-microwave plasma CVD , 1990 .

[19]  B. Deryagin,et al.  The growth of diamond and graphite from the gas phase , 1989 .

[20]  R. Bauer,et al.  Quantitative nucleation and growth studies of PACVD diamond film formation on (100) silicon , 1993 .

[21]  M. Ameloot,et al.  Covalent immobilization of DNA on CVD diamond films , 2003 .

[22]  D. Gruen,et al.  Temperature dependence of the growth rate for nanocrystalline diamond films deposited from an Ar/CH4 microwave plasma , 1998 .

[23]  Olga Shenderova,et al.  Ultrananocrystalline Diamond: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications , 2006 .

[24]  D. K. Reinhard,et al.  Diamond-coated glass substrates , 1998 .

[25]  Peter Koidl,et al.  Novel microwave plasma reactor for diamond synthesis , 1998 .

[26]  Y. Muranaka,et al.  Characterization of diamond films synthesized in the microwave plasmas of CO/H2 and CO/O2/H2 systems at low temperatures (403–1023 K) , 1991 .