Effect of surface species concentrations and temperature on diamond film morphology in inductively coupled r.f. plasma CVD

Diamond tilms were deposited with an r.f. plasma operating at atmospheric pressure. The gas composition above the growth surface was measured with a gas ch~-omatograph. Experiments were conducted over a range of methane flow rates and sut'strate t,,'r~peratt~res. Films were characterized by SEM and X-ray diffraction texture analysis. Increases in either input methane-hydrogen ratio or substrate temperature caused film morphology to shift from fill} toward {100] faceting, while the measured ratio of C]| 4 to C:H, decreased. We speculate that the temperat~Jrc effect on species concentrations and film morphology is due to the temperature dependence of surface-catalyzed atomic hydrogen recombination, ct;) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.