Effect of Nano‐Ni Catalyst on the Growth and Characterization of Diamond Films by HFCVD

Abstract

Four different catalysts, nanodiamond seed, nano-Ni, diamond powder, and mixture of nano-Ni/diamond powder, were used to activate Si wafers for diamond film growth by hot-filament CVD (HFCVD). Diamond crystals were shown to grow directly on both large diamond powder and small nanodiamond seed, but a better crystallinity of diamond film was observed on the ultrasonicated nanodiamond seeded Si substrate. On the other hand, nano-Ni nanocatalysts seem to promote the formation of amorphous carbon but suppress transpolyacetylene (t-PA) phases at the initial growth of diamond films. The subsequent nucleation and growth of diamond crystals on the amorphous carbon layer leads to generation of the spherical diamond particles and clusters prior to coalescence into continuous diamond films based on the CH3 addition mechanism as characterized by XRD, Raman, ATR/FT-IR, XPS, TEM, SEM, and AFM techniques. Moreover, a 36% reduction in surface roughness of diamond film assisted by nano-Ni catalyst is quite significant.

RETRACTED: Growth of boron-doped diamond nanoclusters using the HFCVD technique

“…Diamond with excellent physical and chemical properties such as hardness, great thermal conductivity, chemical inertness and higher carrier mobility is widely used in various fields and many searches carried out on its growth conditions and properties [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Pure diamond is an insulator with wide band gap of 5.5 eV.…”

Effects of dynamic polarization on boron-doped NCD properties and on its performance for electrochemical-analysis of Pb (II), Cu (II) and Hg (II) in aqueous solution via direct LSV

“…Generally, the Csp 2 and Csp 3 peaks are located approximately at 284.3~284.6 eV and 285.0~286.0 eV respectively [37,38].…”

Ion Beam Irradiation Studies Of Ultrananocrystalline Diamond (UNCD)

“…Density-functional-based tight-binding MD simulations suggest that the increase in the conductivity is due to the increase of states in the band gap attributed to the bonding disorder and impurities in the grain boundaries 5 . Moreover, vibrational and optical studies on N doped UNCD films have shown a narrowed energy gap with a graphite-like ordered structure, which may be responsible for the high electrical conductivity 6 . Hence, evidence points towards the change in nanostructure of N-doped UNCD relative to undoped UNCD resulting in the increase in conductivity.…”