LASER-PLASMA DEPOSITION OF DIAMOND PHASE AT LOW-TEMPERATURES

Diamond crystallites were deposited on single-crystal (100) silicon su bstrates by the KrF (248 nm) excimer laser ablation of pyrolytic graph ite in an argon rf plasma ambient. No external heating or seeding of t he rf biased substrates was used. The rf plasma ambient caused surface restructuring of the silicon substrate, presumably via sputtering, wh ich facilitated the nucleation of 0.01-0.15 mum diamond crystallites. The diamond cubic structure was confirmed by transmission electron dif fraction analysis. However, the Raman 13 32 cm-1 mode, characteristic of diamond, was not detected. The rf bias accelerates the ions in the laser-induced plume and rf plasma discharge towards the substrate like ly facilitate nucleation of the diamond phase on the restructured and roughened silicon substrate.