DIAMOND GROWTH ON TURBOSTRATIC CARBON BY HOT-FILAMENT CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION

Diamond films were grown on turbostratic carbon (TC) pregrown on Cu su bstrates by hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Auger electron spe ctroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, infrared absorption spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were used to characteri ze both the TC and the diamond films. It was shown that the TC films c ould form on Cu at low temperatures (almost-equal-to 650-degrees-C) wi th the catalysis of Mo and that diamond crystallites rapidly formed on TC in less than 10 min at higher temperature (almost-equal-to 1000-de grees-C). The sp3 bonds were found to coexist with sp2 bonds in TC. Th e sp3 bonds in TC provide nucleation sites for diamond crystals and im prove the nucleation rate at the early stage of deposition of diamond on TC.