Microvoids in Polycrystalline Cvd Diamond

Abstract

AbstractSmall angle light scattering has been used to quantitatively study microvoids in polycrystalline CVD diamond. Guinier's approximation was used to calculate the average radius of gyration of these defects for diamond films made by both DC arc-jet and microwave CVD assuming a spherical defect geometry. Values of the radius of gyration varied between approximately 1 and 5 μm and were found to correlate with the thickness, relative transmission and thermal conductivity measured for the films. Some inconsistencies were observed between microwave and DC arc-jet materials which may be related to fundamental differences in the growth processes. This represents the first quantitative analysis of such defects in polycrystalline films and holds great promise for improving our understanding of the diamond CVD processing and properties.