Effect of processing parameters on the nucleation behavior of nano-crystalline diamond film

Effect of pretreatment bias on the nucleation and growth mechanisms of ultrananocrystalline diamond films via bias-enhanced nucleation and growth: An approach to interfacial chemistry analysis via chemical bonding mapping

“…4,5 However, prior bias-enhanced nucleation and bias-enhanced growth ͑BEN-BEG͒ processes using H 2 / CH 4 chemistries produced nanocrystalline diamond films ͑30-100 nm grain size͒ exhibiting larger clusters ͑cauliflower morphologies͒, limited surface smoothness, high compressive stress, delamination, and high content of nondiamond phase. [6][7][8] Recently, we developed a low-pressure heat-assisted BEN-BEG process to synthesize UNCD films with nanoscale surface roughness, high growth rate, uniform nanosized crystalline diamond grains, and very low content of sp 2 bonded carbon atoms, exhibiting promising tribological properties. 9 However, understanding the growth mechanism of BEN-BEG UNCD films on Si substrates is a crucial but difficult task because of the complex nature in the synthesis process.…”

Synthesis and characterization of smooth ultrananocrystalline diamond films via low pressure bias-enhanced nucleation and growth

“…Other prior work involved BEN plus bias enhanced growth ͑BEG͒ processes, using H 2 / CH 4 chemistries for growing nanocrystalline diamond ͑NCD͒ ͑30-100 nm grains͒ films, resulted in formation of diamond clusters, relatively high surface roughness, high compressive stress, delamination of the film, and high content of nondiamond phase. 11,12 By contrast, we describe here a process to grow UNCD films identical to those produced by the Ar/ CH 4 chemistry, but using relatively low pressure ͑25 mbar͒ H 2 / CH 4 gas chemistry and an integrated BEN-BEG process that yields films with low stress, ultrasmooth surfaces, high growth rates, and uniform grain size ͑3-5 nm͒ throughout the whole film area, making them potential candidate materials for the fabrication of UNCDbased MEMS/NEMS devices.…”

Biocompatible ultrananocrystalline diamond coatings for implantable medical devices

“…10 UNCD fi lms were produced using BEN with H 2 /CH 4 plasma chemistry for the BEN step, but growing the UNCD fi lms without bias, did not yield optimum nanostructure and properties. 11 More recently, a low pressure BEN/BEG process was developed using Ar/CH 4 chemistry, which yielded UNCD fi lms with an identical nanostructure to that shown in Figure 1a : low stress ( ∼ 80-100 MPa), smooth surfaces (rms ∼ 4-6 nm), and higher growth rates ( ∼ 1 µm/hr) 12 than for UNCD fi lms grown without bias ( ∼ 0.2-0.3 µm/h). 1 BEN/ BEG UNCD fi lms may be the most appropriate approach for coating of dental and other prostheses.…”