Homoepitaxial (111) diamond grown by temperature-controlled chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

We investigated the growth of high-quality homoepitaxial diamond on the (111) face in a microwave-assisted plasma chemical-vapor-deposition system incorporating an individual substrate heating/cooling device. The grown diamond films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy, confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The (111) diamond films show a tendency to incorporate a significant amount of hydrogen during chemical-vapor-deposition growth. Hydrogen incorporation degrades the crystal quality and surface smoothness. The amount of incorporated hydrogen decreases with the decrease in deposition temperature. We have shown that the crystal quality and surface smoothness of homoepitaxial diamond strongly depend on the substrate temperature. Independent control of the substrate temperature and incident microwave power is essential for high-quality diamond homoepitaxy.