Method and apparatus for producing single-crystalline diamond

摘要

An initial single-crystalline diamond base material (50) is prepared from a flat plate having a major surface (50a) and side surfaces consisting of low-index planes for homoepitaxially vapor-depositing single-crystalline diamond on the single-crystalline diamond base material (50), thereby forming single-crystalline diamond having a large area. Holding means (1) for the single-crystalline diamond base material (50) consists of a material hardly forming a compound with carbon, or is coated with such a material. According to this method and this apparatus, single-crystalline diamond can be stably formed on the surfaces of the base material (50). Consequently, single-crystalline diamond of high quality having a large area can be stably produced in a shorter time by either plasma CVD or a thermal filament method.