AbstractIon-surface interactions are thought to play a role in bias enhanced nucleation of diamond. To explore this hypothesis and understand the mechanisms, surface studies of hydrogen and hydrocarbon ion interactions with silicon and silicon carbide have been performed. the experiments were carried out at room temperature and used in-situ auger analyses to monitor the surface composition of thin films produced or modified by the ions. Ion energies ranged from 10 to 2000 eV. Hydrogen ions were found to modify silicon carbide thin films by removing silicon and converting the resulting carbon-rich layers to a mixture of sp2- and sp3-C. the interaction of hydrocarbon ions with silicon was shown to produce a thin film containing SiC-, sp2-, and sp3-C species. IN general, the relative amount of each species formed was dependent upon ion energy, fluence, and mass. the results of these studies, interpreted in terms of chemical and energy transfer processes, provide key insights into the mechanisms of bias enhanced nucleation.
