The Effect of Flow Rate on Competitive Growth Mechanisms in Nitrogen-Methane-Hydrogen Diamond Thin Film Plasma Deposition
Abstract
Flow rates in plasma CVD reactors determine the radical resonance time and may greatly influence the characteristics of the deposited films, especially if the film growth is catalyzed by any particular radical species. In these investigations, polycrystalline diamond thin films are grown for 8 hours in a microwave plasma CVD reactor on single crystal (100) p-type silicon substrates, using 1methane/hydrogen ratios, and nitrogen levels between 0 and 1500 ppm. The addition of ppm of nitrogen has been shown in previous investigations to catalytically affect both morphology and texture, at a flow rate of 200-217 sccm in the Michigan State University wide-area reactor geometry. Flow rates between 50 and 400 sccm are investigated in the present research. Plasma properties during deposition are analyzed by Optical Emission Spectroscopy, optical pyrometry, and by Langmuir probes. The resulting diamond film properties are analyzed by Tapping Modeä atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction texture analysis and micro-Raman.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 1999
- Bibcode:
- 1999APS..DPP.QP101A