LOW-ENERGY ION-IMPLANTATION AND ELECTROCHEMICAL SEPARATION OF DIAMONDFILMS

We combine low energy and low dose ion implantation with an electroche mical etch to fabricate thin diamond layers suitable for seeding homoe pitaxial or polycrystalline chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond gro wth. Implantation of a carbon ion dose of 1 X 10(16) CM-2 at 175 keV c reates subsurface damage in a bulk crystal which is selectively remove d by the electrochemical etch. Implanted substrates were subjected to CVD diamond deposition prior to etching of the damage layer. We discus s the effect of implantation and subsequent annealing conditions on th e morphology and Raman spectra of the CVD films. All results indicate that the seed layer nucleated high quality CVD diamond film growth.