Chemical Reaction Mechanisms of Diamond Growth

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly apparent that future progress in diamond chemical vapor deposition depends on deeper understanding of the underlying mechanism of surface processes. Substantial efforts toward this goal have led to several conclusions on which consensus is beginning to emerge. Among them are the mediating role of hydrogen atoms, generic features of the growth kinetics, thermodynamic stability of reconstructed (100) surfaces, and the insertion reaction of methyl into (100)-(2x1) dimers. Despite these efforts, an overall picture of diamond growth in terms of elementary processes is still lacking. In this paper, the current state of mechanistic understanding is reviewed, emphasizing common themes, and new results are presented. Among the latter are the effect of reaction reversibility on surface morphology, surface migration, and a new mechanism for diamond growth from acetylene.

C−F Bond Cleavage by Mass-Selected Free Radicals at Fluorinated Self-Assembled Monolayer Surfaces

“…Reactions of gas-phase free radicals with surfaces occur in various technological processes. These include plasma etching, deposition of thin films, , enhanced surface adhesion, and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition . Plasma technology used in semiconductor and polymer processing is typical of the state of the science in many of these areas in that it is empirically based and there is limited information on the underlying processes.…”