An experimental study of the temperature and stoichiometry dependence of diamond growth in low pressure flat flames

1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.S. Kim ◽  
M.A. Cappelli

A study of the temperature and stoichiometry dependence of diamond synthesis in low pressure premixed acetylene-oxygen flames is presented. A specially designed low pressure flat flame operating at 40 Torr is employed to deposit diamond films uniformly over areas of at least 2 cm2. Under optimized conditions of substrate temperatures and flame equivalence ratios, high quality translucent diamond that is well faceted is synthesized exhibiting first-order Raman fullwidths (half maximum) of about 2.5 cm−1. Diamond growth rates under these optimum conditions are approximately 4 μm/h. The film growth rate is found to drop off substantially at high substrate temperatures, with little or no carbon deposited beyond a temperature of 1070 °C. The growth behavior in response to changes in flame equivalence ratio and substrate temperature is discussed in terms of the possible role that oxygen-containing species may have on surface chemistry. The results described here are also used to project a base cost for manufacturing diamond under these process conditions.

2011 ◽  
Vol 1282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul W. May ◽  
Yuri A. Mankelevich

ABSTRACTA prerequisite for modelling the growth of diamond by CVD is knowledge of the identities and concentrations of the gas-phase species which impact upon the growing diamond surface. Two methods have been devised for the estimation of this information, and have been used to determine adsorption rates for CxHy hydrocarbons for process conditions that experimentally produce single-crystal diamond, microcrystalline diamond films, nanocrystalline diamond films and ultrananocrystalline diamond films. Both methods rely on adapting a previously developed model for the gas-phase chemistry occurring in a hot filament or microwave plasma reactor. Using these methods, the concentrations of most of the CxHy radical species, with the exception of CH3, at the surface have been found to be several orders of magnitude smaller than previously believed. In most cases these low concentrations suggest that reactions such as direct insertion of C1Hy (y = 0-2) and/or C2 into surface C–H or C–C bonds can be neglected and that such species do not contribute significantly to the diamond growth process in the reactors under study.


1998 ◽  
Vol 527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armando Netto ◽  
Michael Frenklach

ABSTRACTDiamond films are of interest in many practical applications but the technology of producing high-quality, low-cost diamond is still lacking. To reach this goal, it is necessary to understand the mechanism underlying diamond deposition. Most reaction models advanced thus far do not consider surface diffusion, but recent theoretical results, founded on quantum-mechanical calculations and localized kinetic analysis, highlight the critical role that surface migration may play in growth of diamond films. In this paper we report a three-dimensional time-dependent Monte Carlo simulations of diamond growth which consider adsorption, desorption, lattice incorporation, and surface migration. The reaction mechanism includes seven gas-surface, four surface migration, and two surface-only reaction steps. The reaction probabilities are founded on the results of quantum-chemical and transition-state-theory calculations. The kinetic Monte Carlo simulations show that, starting with an ideal {100}-(2×1) reconstructed diamond surface, the model is able to produce a continuous film growth. The smoothness of the growing film and the developing morphology are shown to be influenced by rate parameter values and by deposition conditions such as temperature and gaseous species concentrations.


1996 ◽  
Vol 69 (15) ◽  
pp. 2258-2260 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Wolden ◽  
Z. Sitar ◽  
R. F. Davis ◽  
J. T. Prater

1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1344-1350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Li Tolt ◽  
L. Heatherly ◽  
R. E. Clausing ◽  
C. S. Feigerle

Addition of a small amount of oxygen to the CH4 and H2 feed gas permits hot filament assisted chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) of diamond at significantly lower filament and substrate temperatures. The former can be reduced to as low as 1400 °C and the latter to 450 °C. The amount of oxygen required is much lower than what has been used in most studies of the oxygen effect. For each CH4%, there is a narrow window in the O/C ratio, where diamond can be deposited at low temperature. This window shifts to higher O/C ratios as the CH4% increases and expands with increases in filament temperature. The effect of changing substrate and filament temperatures on growth rate and film quality are often not consistent with previous experiences with HFCVD of diamond. Increasing the filament temperature does not always improve the growth rate and film quality, and the non-diamond carbon content in the film is dramatically reduced at lower substrate temperatures. Optimum conditions were found that gave reasonable growth rates (∼0.5 μm/h) with high film quality at filament temperatures below 1750 °C and substrate temperatures below 600 °C. With these reductions in operating temperatures, power consumption can be significantly reduced and the filament lifetime extended indefinitely.


1992 ◽  
Vol 242 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Rudder ◽  
J. B. Posthill ◽  
G. C. Hudson ◽  
D. P. Malta ◽  
R. E. Thomas ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA low pressure chemical vapor deposition technique using water-alcohol vapors has been developed for the deposition of polycrystalline diamond films and homoepitaxial diamond films. The technique uses a low pressure (0.50 – 1.00 Torr) rf-induction plasma to effectively dissociate the water vapor into atomic hydrogen and OH. Alcohol vapors admitted into the chamber with the water vapor provide the carbon balance to produce diamond growth. At 1.00 Torr, high quality diamond growth occurs with a gas phase concentration of water approximately equal to 47% for methanol, 66% for ethanol, and 83% for isopropanol. A reduction in the critical power necessary to magnetically couple to the plasma gas is achieved through the addition of acetic acid to the water.alcohol solution. The lower input power allows lower temperature diamond growth. Currently, diamond depositions using water:methanol:acetic-acid are occurring as low as 300 ° C with only about 500 W power input to the 50 mm diameter plasma tube.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolay Ivanovich Polushin ◽  
Alexander Ivanovich Laptev ◽  
Boris Vladimirovich Spitsyn ◽  
Alexander Evgenievich Alexenko ◽  
Alexander Mihailovich Polyansky ◽  
...  

Boron-doped diamond is a promising semiconductor material that can be used as a sensor and in power electronics. Currently, researchers have obtained thin boron-doped diamond layers due to low film growth rates (2–10 μm/h), with polycrystalline diamond growth on the front and edge planes of thicker crystals, inhomogeneous properties in the growing crystal’s volume, and the presence of different structural defects. One way to reduce structural imperfection is the specification of optimal synthesis conditions, as well as surface etching, to remove diamond polycrystals. Etching can be carried out using various gas compositions, but this operation is conducted with the interruption of the diamond deposition process; therefore, inhomogeneity in the diamond structure appears. The solution to this problem is etching in the process of diamond deposition. To realize this in the present work, we used triethyl borate as a boron-containing substance in the process of boron-doped diamond chemical vapor deposition. Due to the oxygen atoms in the triethyl borate molecule, it became possible to carry out an experiment on simultaneous boron-doped diamond deposition and growing surface etching without the requirement of process interruption for other operations. As a result of the experiments, we obtain highly boron-doped monocrystalline diamond layers with a thickness of about 8 μm and a boron content of 2.9%. Defects in the form of diamond polycrystals were not detected on the surface and around the periphery of the plate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Jen-Chuan Tung ◽  
Tsung-Che Li ◽  
Yen-Jui Teseng ◽  
Po-Liang Liu

The aim of this research is the study of hydrogen abstraction reactions and methyl adsorption reactions on the surfaces of (100), (110), and (111) oriented nitrogen-doped diamond through first-principles density-functional calculations. The three steps of the growth mechanism for diamond thin films are hydrogen abstraction from the diamond surface, methyl adsorption on the diamond surface, and hydrogen abstraction from the methylated diamond surface. The activation energies for hydrogen abstraction from the surface of nitrogen-undoped and nitrogen-doped diamond (111) films were −0.64 and −2.95 eV, respectively. The results revealed that nitrogen substitution was beneficial for hydrogen abstraction and the subsequent adsorption of methyl molecules on the diamond (111) surface. The adsorption energy for methyl molecules on the diamond surface was generated during the growth of (100)-, (110)-, and (111)-oriented diamond films. Compared with nitrogen-doped diamond (100) films, adsorption energies for methyl molecule adsorption were by 0.14 and 0.69 eV higher for diamond (111) and (110) films, respectively. Moreover, compared with methylated diamond (100), the activation energies for hydrogen abstraction were by 0.36 and 1.25 eV higher from the surfaces of diamond (111) and (110), respectively. Growth mechanism simulations confirmed that nitrogen-doped diamond (100) films were preferred, which was in agreement with the experimental and theoretical observations of diamond film growth.


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