Temperature dependence of the growth rate for nanocrystalline diamond films deposited from an Ar/CH{sub 4} microwave plasma
- Materials Science and Chemistry Divisions, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
We have investigated the effect of substrate temperature on the growth rate and properties of nanocrystalline diamond thin films prepared by microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition on (100) Si from a 1{percent} methane (CH{sub 4}) precursor in argon (Ar). In previous work we have shown that the carbon dimer C{sub 2} is the dominant growth species for this CH{sub 4}/Ar system without the addition of molecular hydrogen. In the present work, the apparent activation energy for this growth process from C{sub 2} was determined from a standard Arrhenius-type analysis of the growth rate data for substrate temperatures between 500 and 900thinsp{degree}C. The measured value of 5.85{plus_minus}0.438thinspkcal/mol (0.254{plus_minus}0.019thinspeV/atom) is shown to be in close agreement with the results of recent modeling studies of the energetics of C{sub 2} addition to the diamond (110){endash}(1{times}1):H surface. These results have important implications for low-temperature diamond coating of nonrefractory materials such as glasses. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Institute of Physics.}
- OSTI ID:
- 658468
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 73, Issue 12; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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