EFFECTS OF HYDROGEN ON THE TRANSITION LAYERS BETWEEN DIAMOND FILMS AND ZR, HF SUBSTRATES

Highly purified polycrystalline wafers of Zr and Hf were chosen as sub strates for diamond deposition by means of the d.c. arc discharge plas ma CVD method. Polycrystalline diamond films were formed on both subst rates. Scanning electron microscopy and high resolution X-ray diffract ion were used to investigate the surface morphology of the diamond fil ms and the composition of the interface layers between the diamond fil ms and substrates. The experiments showed that the transition layer be tween the diamond films and Zr substrates was ZrC, ZrH and ZrC0.32H1.2 . For Hf substrates, in addition to HfC, it is supposed that there wer e also some hydrides or carbohydrides in the transition layer, because several X-ray reflections appeared which could not be assigned to Hf, HfC or diamond.