Metallic seed nanolayers for enhanced nucleation of nanocrystalline diamond thin films

The enhancement of the nucleation and subsequent growth of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films with a submicrometer thickness control on silicon substrates is demonstrated by using a sputter deposition of six different metallic (Cr, Mo, Nb, Ti, V and W) seed nanolayers. The effectiveness of altered surface morphology and surface chemistry is discussed. We show that the number density of nanodiamond particles embedded on the nanorough metallic surfaces after an ultrasonic seeding step together with the dynamic surface chemistry during hot-filament chemical vapor deposition of diamond determine the nucleation kinetics, microstructure and surface topography of the NCD films. Overall, the smoothest NCD layer (root-mean-square roughness 10 nm) was obtained with the highest seed density of diamond nanoparticles anchored to the metallic (W) surface. In particular, the rapid carbide-forming metals Mo, Nb and W showed the highest number density of diamond crystallites formed during the NCD nucleation stage, which resulted in dense, uniform and very smooth NCD films. Much rougher NCD films (17−37 nm) were obtained on the Cr, Ti, and V nanolayers that did not form carbides rapidly. Importantly, the carbon phase purity of the grown NCD films remains unaffected by the presence of different metallic seed nanolayers. Furthermore, we have assessed that the metallic nanolayer surface morphology does not play a relevant role in the enhancement of the seeding step.

Jaar van publicatie:2013

BOF-keylabel:ja

IOF-keylabel:ja

BOF-publication weight:2

CSS-citation score:1

Auteurs:International

Authors from:Higher Education

Toegankelijkheid:Closed