ENHANCEMENT OF DIAMOND CVD NUCLEATION ON QUARTZ BY HIGH-DOSE TITANIUMIMPLANTATION

The growth of diamond thin alms on quartz substrates has been investig ated for different surface pretreatments by a number of complimentary techniques: Auger electron spectroscopy, micro-Raman and scanning elec tron microscopy. Implantation of 60 keV Ti ions to a dose of approx. 2 x 10(17) cm(-2) and subsequent abrasion with diamond powder shortens significantly the incubation time for diamond nucleation and enhances the diamond CVD nucleation density. This effect is attributed to the f ormation of titanium carbide in the implanted layer at the initial sta ges of the CVD process which stabilizes the diamond nucleation and gro wth. The adhesion of continuous films deposited on both the implanted and unimplanted quartz substrates was found to deteriorate significant ly following long deposition runs of 4.5 h duration. This was attribut ed to thermal stresses between the deposited films and the quartz subs trate.