Chemical vapour deposition of oriented diamond nanocrystallites by a bias-enhanced nucleation method.

A microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD) system has been used to deposit nanometre-sized single-crystalline diamonds on 1 × 1 cm(2) Si(100) substrates. The distribution of deposited diamonds has good uniformity over the whole Si substrate surface by using a dome-shaped Mo anode which allows the application of bias-enhanced nucleation. The morphology and crystallinity of the deposits on Si were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with electron diffraction and lattice images. SEM and TEM observations show that oriented diamond nuclei as single crystals with facets can form on self-formed Si cones through epitaxial SiC within a short bias period. After a longer bias time, it has been observed that polycrystalline diamonds formed as a result of secondary nucleation.