DIAMOND NUCLEATION AND GROWTH ON TAN2

High quality diamond films have been deposited on tantalum nitride (Ta N2) materials, which are used as heating elements for high-speed therm al printing heads, by using the microwave plasma chemical vapor deposi tion technique via a particular pretreatment, intercurrent treatment, and shutdown process. Scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy were employed to investigate the structure and quality of the films. A highly adherent film-substrate system was obt ained. The possibility of chemical vapor deposition diamond films bein g used as protective layers of thermal printing heads is indicated. Th e low-temperature pretreatment with a methane-rich hydrogen plasma pla ys an important role in nucleating diamond crystallites on the TaN2 su bstrate, thus enhancing the nucleation density and making it possible to form a continuous diamond film on TaN2. A speculation is proposed t o interpret the effect. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.