Recently, attention has been focused upon laser plasma sources of thin-film diamond. These depend upon laser-ignited discharges in which intense pulsed currents flow through the small volume of carbon plasma ablated from graphite feedstock by a focused laser beam. The materials produced in this way generally resemble the hard amorphic films deposited by ion beams. This paper reports a detailed characterization of these films which we call amorphic diamond. The combination of an optical band gap of 1.0 eV with a grain size of 100–200 Å places this material far outside the range of possibilities available to the model of graphitic islands. A structure of very fine grained diamond would more readily explain the hardness of 13 GPa determined in the absence of any measurable fraction of hydrogen. Such amorphic diamond films have been grown uniformly on 100-cm2 areas at ambient room temperatures with no seeding or abrasion of the substrate.

Amorphic diamond films can be grown in an ultrahigh vacuum environment free from hydrogen with a laser plasma discharge source. This technique produces films that adhere more readily to materials for which there are important applications as protective coatings. In this work adhesion and mechanical properties of amorphic diamond films have been examined. A beam bending method has been used to measure the internal stress and a relatively low value of compressive stress was found. The dependence of stress on the laser intensities at the graphite ablation target has been studied. Analyses of these films on silicon, SiO2, ZnS, and TiAl6V4 by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry show significant interfacial layers with compositions of SiC, C0.5SiO2, C2.5ZnS, and C0.62Ti0.35Al0.05V0.02, respectively. Adhesion properties on ZnS and other substrates have also been examined for harsh environments. The mechanical properties of hardness, Young’s modulus, and stiffness have been obtained with a nanoindentation technique. These results together with the minimal amount of hydrogen in our process, make amorphic diamond an excellent candidate for direct deposition on several substrates including ZnS.

Amorphic diamond films characterized by a high percentage of sp3 bonds have been prepared in an UHV environment with a laser plasma source of carbon ions. Peak power densities in excess of 1011 W/cm2 were found necessary to produce films at growth rates of 0.5 μm/h over areas of 20 cm2 having optical quality sufficient to show bright interference colors.

It has been previously reported that layers of amorphic diamond can be grown in a UHV environment free from hydrogen with a laser plasma source. Some advantages are offered by this technique which produces films that adhere more readily to materials for which there are important applications. Theory has recently suggested a structure for amorphic diamond that comprises nodules of carbon atoms linked by sp3 bonds in a matrix of other polytypes and the purpose of this article is to communicate strong evidence in support of that hypothesis. Extensive examinations of a variety of films with a scanning tunneling microscope show a clearly prevalent structure composed of dense nodules. Grain size is about 1000 Å and the diamond character is attested by the agreement of morphology, high density, optical properties, soft x-ray spectroscopy, hardness, and lack of appreciable hydrogen. Measurements agree in supporting a fraction of about 75% diamond contents. The principal conclusion is that this material prepared with a laser plasma source has the structure expected for amorphic diamond.