Enhanced nucleation of polycrystalline diamond has been achieved on Si
(100) with an intermediate layer of carbonitride. The carbonitride fil
m was formed by an ion beam assisted deposition method and was charact
erized by Rutherford backscattering, X-ray photoelectron and laser Ram
an spectroscopies. The diamond deposition was accomplished using a hot
filament chemical vapor deposition technique. Diamond him quality was
examined with the help of laser Raman spectroscopy and scanning elect
ron microscopy.