HIGH-SPEED DIAMOND GROWTH USING A MICROWAVE PLASMA IN PULSED MODE

摘要

Current methods for manufacturing diamond films by microwave--plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition are of limited effectiveness since the large amounts of energy needed to obtain diamond of electronic quality at reasonable growth rates lead to heating of the walls on which hydrogen atoms contained in the plasma recombine and therefore cannot participate in the reaction. To solve this problem, there is provided a method of forming a plasma near a substrate by subjecting a gas containing at least hydrogen and carbon using a pulsed microwave plasma with a peak power density of at least 100W/cm3, while the temperature of the substrate is maintained between 700°C and 1000°C and the pressure of the plasma is maintained between 100mbar and 350mbar. Such a method allows manufacturing diamond at a high deposition rate while guaranteeing the electronic quality of the diamond film produced.