Diamond films characterization

In this monograph, a number of notations, units, and abbreviations will be used, and they are summarized in Appendix A. It contains lists of notations for crystal orientations, process parameters for CVD, analytical techniques, CVD reactors, crystal growth, and carbon materials in addition to a description of standard diamond film characterizations, i.e. Raman spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence (CL). The readers are recommended to just quickly read through Appendix A at this point. 

Raman Microspectroscopy. Raman spectra of small soflds or small regions of soflds can be obtained at a spatial resolution of about 1 p.m usiag a Raman microprobe. A widespread appHcation is ia the characterization of materials. For example, the Raman microprobe is used to measure lattice strain ia semiconductors (30) and polymers (31,32), and to identify graphitic regions ia diamond films (33). The microprobe has long been employed to identify fluid iaclusions ia minerals (34), and is iacreasiagly popular for identification of iaclusions ia glass (qv) (35). 

D.S. Knight, W.B. White, Characterization of diamond films by Raman spectroscopy, Journal of Materials Research, 4 (2011) 385-393. 

A.H. Deutchman and R.J. Partyka (Beam Alloy Corporation observe, "Characterization and classification of thin diamond films depend both on advanced surface-analysis techniques capable of analyzing elemental composition and microstructure (morphology and crystallinity), and on measurement of macroscopic mechanical, electrical, optical and thermal properties. Because diamond films are very thin (I to 2 micrometers or less) and grain and crystal sizes are very small, scanning electron microscopy... 

Below we give an overview of electrochemical behavior of synthetic diamond films and discuss some applications of electrochemical methods to their characterization. We attempt to predict prospects for this new area of electrochemistry. When touching fundamentals of the electrochemistry of semiconductors, we refer to the monograph [6] for details. 

The overview by Pleskov covers the literature on electrochemical behavior of synthetic diamond films, as well as the use of electrochemical methods in their characterization. The rapid advancement of the field of diamond electrochemistry was triggered by progress in the technology of deposition of polycrystalline diamond thin films on diamond and other substrates. Advances around the world have by now led to formation of a self-consistent, but as yet incomplete, view of electrochemical behavior of diamond. While discrepancies and scatter between data from different research groups still exist, the rapid advance in film quality and in reliable methods of evaluation point to a promising future. 

Fig. 3.7 Typical micro-Raman (a), XRD (b) and SEM (c) characterization results of diamond film deposited on titanium substrate...

Sugino, T., Karasutani, K., Mano, F., Kataoka, H., Shirafuji, J. and Kobashi, K. (1994), Characterization of undoped and boron-doped polycrystalhne diamond films synthesized by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition using methanol. Diam. Relat. Mater., 3(4-6) 618-622. 

This work is supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, under Contract W-31-109-Eng-38. The author thanks his research collaborators and students who participated in the reparation, testing, and characterization of the nanocrystalline diamond films discussed in this chapter. 

Focher R, Wagner J, Fuchs F, Maier M, Gonon P, Koidl P (1995) Optical and electrical characterization of boron-doped diamond films. Diam Relat Mater 4 678-683... 

Bormett RW, Asher SA, Witowski RE, Partlow WD, Lizewski R, Pettit F (1995) Ultraviolet Raman spectroscopy characterizes chemical vapor deposition diamond film growth and oxidation. J Appl Phys 77 5916... 

The internal stress within the diamond film grown on Pt(lll) substrate was characterized by confocal Raman spectroscopy [401, 402]. The film thickness was... 

The chemical vapor deposition has developed into the leading method for the preparation of thin diamond films. It is mainly characterized by a precipitation of carbon from the gas phase onto a substrate. Applicable sources of carbon include methane, acetylene, or ethylene, which are normally admixed with a current of hydrogen. The latter, in an atomic state, turned out to be essential for an efficient production of high-quality diamond films. Actually, atomic hydrogen is generated in situ from... 

The physical properties of diamond films largely correspond to those of the macroscopic material. The only significant differences to bulk diamond arise from surface defects and from a possible doping. The spectroscopic properties are employed to characterize the diamond films obtained, to evaluate their quality and, where applicable, to identify defects and impurities. In the following, the main attention will be directed just to those features differing from the bulk properties of diamond. Further aspects are also discussed in Section 5.4 on the physical properties of nanodiamond that shares some characteristics with the so-called ultrananocrystalline diamond in particular. 

Fig. 5 Changes in / (solid line) and D (dashed line) at = 1 for a 5 MHz crystal in contact with a viscoelastic film characterized by a homogeneous thickness, viscosity, and elasticity of 1 gcm , 30mPas, and 1 MPa, respectively, and a thickness varying between 0 and 1 p.m. In a, the medium is air. In b, the medium is water. Also shown is the frequency shift according to the Sauerbrey equation (Eq. 1) for the same film (open diamonds)...

Kim et al.f studied the effect of gas pressure on the nucleation behavior of diamond on a Si(lOO) substrate in HFCVD. The pressure was varied from 2 to 50 torr, while a filament temperature of2200°C, a substrate temperature of 850°C, a total flow rate of 20 seem and a CH4 concentration of 0.8 vol.% were used. The characterization of diamond deposits using micro-Raman spectroscopy, SEM and OM revealed that the maximum nucleation density of diamond parades on the unscratched Si substrate occurred at a pressure of 5 torr. The pressure dependence of the nucleation density was explained by the competition effect between P-SiC formation, which increases the diamond nucleation density, and atomic-hydrogen etching, which decreases the nmnber of nucleation sites. On the basis of this finding, a new fabrication approach for high-quality diamond films without... 

A. Hiraki, H. Kawarada, J. Wei, and J. L Suzuki, Preparation and characterization of wide area, high quality diamond film using magnetoactive plasma chemical vapor deposition, Smf. Coat. Technol, 43-44(l-3) 10-21 (1990)... 

E. N. Loubnin, In-situ laser interferometry characterization of nucleation and growth of diamond films. Diamond Films and Technol, 3(1) 1-15 (1993)... 

G. H. Ma, Y. H. Lee, and J. T. Glass, Electron microscopic characterization of diamond films grown on Si by bias-controlled chemical vapor deposition, J. Mater. 

Mousinho AP, Mansano RD, Salvador MC. Nanostrnctnred diamond-like carbon films characterization. J Alloy Compd 2010 495 620-4. 

Scanning electron miCToscopy (SEM) has been a very useful technique in the characterization of diamond thin films. The microstructure of diamond films changes... 

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