Enhanced nucleation of polycrystalline diamond has been achieved on Si
(100) with an epitaxial intermediate layer of yttria stabilized zircon
ia (Y-ZrO2). The epitaxial Y-ZrO2 layer was grown by pulsed excimer la
ser ablation and the diamond deposition was accomplished using the hot
filament chemical vapor deposition method. The morphological, structu
ral, and defect properties of the diamond crystallites are studied usi
ng the techniques of scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction,
and laser Raman spectroscopy, respectively.