DEPOSITION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF DIAMOND EPITAXIAL THIN-FILMS ON SILICON SUBSTRATES

Heteroepitaxial diamond growth has been attempted on mirror-polished m onocrystalline (001), (111), and (110) silicon substrates by microwave plasma CVD. The surface morphology and the crystallographic propertie s of the films were characterized by means of Scanning Electron Micros copy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray and Raman pole-figure analysis. The results demonstrate epitaxial growth of dia mond on both (001) and (111) or-iented silicon substrates. Preliminary results give strong evidence for substrate-induced orientation of the diamond crystallites also on (110) oriented silicon substrate. The he teroepitaxy can be assigned to the oriented covalent bondifig across t he interface between diamond and silicon.