Nitrogen stabilized 〈100〉 texture in chemical vapor deposited diamond films

Abstract

We have studied the influence of nitrogen impurities in CH4/H2 gas mixtures on the structure and morphology of polycrystalline diamond films prepared by microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition. The nitrogen concentration in the process gas was varied between 1 and 1000 ppm. Optical emission spectroscopy was applied to detect the nitrogen in the plasma via emission from CN radicals. The morphology and texture of polycrystalline films prepared with various N2 impurity levels and CH4 concentrations in the range 0.5%–2% was investigated using scanning electron microscopy and x-ray texture analysis. For the films prepared with low methane concentrations (e.g., 0.5%) only a minor influence of the nitrogen was observed. However, most interestingly, for higher methane concentrations (1%–2%) the addition of small amounts of nitrogen turned out to have a tremendously beneficial effect on the film morphology and structure. Films prepared without additional nitrogen are of nanocrystalline structure and of minor quality, whereas films prepared with nitrogen concentrations in the range 10–100 ppm exhibit a pronounced 〈100〉 texture and a considerably improved crystalline quality as judged by Raman spectroscopy.