GROWTH OF DIAMOND AND DIAMOND-LIKE FILMS USING A LOW-ENERGY ION-BEAM

Ion beam deposition provides an additional control of ion beam energy over the chemical vapor deposition methods. We have used a low energy ion beam of hydrogen and carbon to deposit carbon films on Si(100) waf ers. We found that graphitic films, amorphous carbon films, and orient ed diamond microcrystallites could be obtained separatedly at differen t ion beam energies. The mechanism of the formation of the oriented di amond microcrystallites was suggested to include three components: str ain release after ion bombardment, hydrogen passivation of sp(3) carbo n, and hydrogen etching. Such a process can be extended to the heteroe pitaxial growth of diamond films.