Investigation of the bias nucleation process in microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition of diamond

Mechanism of bias-enhanced nucleation of diamond on Si

“…[3][4][5][6] The mechanism of the bias enhanced nucleation is contentious. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The low nucleation density of diamond on Si may arise from the high surface energy of diamond, the large lattice mismatch of diamond and Si, or the low sticking probability or low surface mobility of growth species. Diamond growth is often preceded by a thin layer of noncrystalline C. 13,14 An interfacial layer of SiC is also often seen on Si.…”

An optical emission spectroscopy study of the plasma generated in the DC HF CVD nucleation of diamond

“…Regarding to the literature it is speculated that the C 2 H x type species are precursors of non-diamond carbon formation [33,34], whereas CH x type species are precursors of diamond films [16,35,36]. Thus, one way to verify this assertion would be to plot the intensity ratio of H b , CH, and CH + species versus the C 2 line (Fig.…”

“….). Among the many diagnosis of the gas phase, optical emission spectroscopy (OES) appear to be very attractive for many reasons: this is a simple method to implement an 'in situ' diagnosis of the complex processes that occurs in a plasma discharge [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Moreover, it allows getting real time information without producing any interference with the plasma.…”

Optical emission spectroscopy study of positive direct current bias enhanced diamond nucleation

“…A rise in the atomic hydrogen intensity was apparent as methane flow increased from 35 to 40 sccm and became stable with further increase of methane flow. The effect of varying the methane content on the concentration of atomic hydrogen above a silicon substrate has also been explored by Beckmann et al [24] using a negative bias, where a linear increase was found over the range of 0%-7% methane in hydrogen plasma at 2.66 kPa with bias ranging from 0 to − 300 V. Mucha and coworkers [25] measured a decrease in the atomic hydrogen within a 4 kPa methane-hydrogen plasma as the methane concentration was increased in a similar range. For the methane flow range used in this study (35-50 sccm), a little variation in the H α signal was observed by increasing methane content, and a rather high value was measured at the highest methane content of more than 50% when a + 300 V bias was applied on the substrate.…”