“…This caveat is important since activated Si/H and Si/C/H gas mixtures have already attracted attention in the context of plasma-enhanced CVD of, respectively, amorphous silicon (a-Si) and amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) layers for solar cell applications. , Compared with diamond CVD, most such silicon-related growth involves much lower-temperature and -pressure plasmas − (with correspondingly higher electron temperatures). For completeness, we also note reports of a-Si growth using direct MW-activated SiH 4 /Xe plasmas, of a-SiC growth using indirect MW-activated Si/C/H plasmas at low (∼1 torr) pressures, of the codeposition of diamond and SiC in activated Si/C/H mixtures, − and prior experimental and computational studies of Si/H , and Si/C/H , kinetics at gas temperatures relevant to the present work. The experimental setup and procedures are first summarized.…”