FREESTANDING SINGLE-CRYSTALLINE CHEMICALLY VAPOR-DEPOSITED DIAMOND FILMS

Free-standing chemically vapor deposited (CVD) single-crystalline diam ond films have been fabricated by a sequence of processes including hi gh energy ion implantation, microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor d eposition, and the final separation of the diamond epilayer from the s ubstrate by heating in oxygen. The homoepitaxial diamond film separate d from the substrate is about 15 mum thick. It is flat and transparent , and exhibits a sharp diamond Raman peak without nondiamond backgroun d signals. This process is promising for mass production of large-area single-crystalline diamonds with the size restricted only by the avai lability of one large initial diamond substrate. The initial substrate is expensive but can be used repetitively to produce a large number o f single-crystalline CVD diamond films.