Diamond deposition by low temperature plasma arc CVD

摘要

A process for plasma arc (especially arc jet) CVD of diamond on a substrate, especially at below 450 deg C, involves fixing a pretreated, cleaned and seeded substrate (2) on a substrate holder (1), placing the holder (1) in an evacuated reactor (10), producing a plasma from an inert gas (especially Ar and/or H2) in the reactor and exposing the substrate (2) to a gaseous diamond precursor material which is activated by the plasma. During a transition phase, H2 is introduced into the inert gas plasma and ignited for use as plasma material, the inert gas supply being terminated after the transition phase. Optionally before igniting the plasma, the nucleated substrate surface is at least indirectly shielded against the plasma and/or the diamond precursor material gas stream and, after the plasma and/or the precursor material gas stream has been stabilised, the shielding cover (7) is removed. Preferably, the substrate (2) is a composite structure of a microelectronic component, especially a component with metallic (especially aluminium) conductor lines.