A high gravity centrifuge facility in which thin films can be produced
, especially from gas phase, was developed. The centrifuge facility al
lows high gravity materials processing up to 100g (g denotes the terre
strial gravity acceleration). With a minor modification, not only thin
films from gas phase but also hulk materials could be produced in the
facility. For the first demonstrative attempt in this facility, diamo
nd thin films were grown under high gravity conditions up to 100g by m
eans of the direct current-plasma chemical vapor deposition method, in
which diamond was deposited on a molybdenum substrate in a moderate p
ressure condition (27 kPa) of the gas how of hydrogen-methane mixture
(methane 1 vol %). The details of the facility are described, and the
preliminary results on the high gravity diamond synthesis are presente
d. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(97)00211-6].