Study of chemical vapor deposition diamond film evolution from a nanodiamond precursor by C-13 isotopic labeling and ion implantation

High nucleation densities and short incubation times of polycrystalline dia mond films can be promoted by the de-glow discharge-surface interaction pro cess as in situ surface pretreatment method. As a result of the pretreatmen t, a carbon nanophase film whose properties are strongly affected by the de -glow discharge deposition parameters is formed. At optimal conditions this nanophase has a predominant diamond character which promotes diamond growt h in the subsequent chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. In this work, the evolution of the diamond film during a standard hot filament (HF) CVD p rocess, following the de-glow discharge pretreatment, was studied by nonrea ctive ion implantation of the precursor film and C-13 isotopic labeling dur ing different deposition stages in addition to spectroscopic and high resol ution scanning electron microscopic (WR-SEM) techniques. Our results indica te that only part of the diamond growth centers formed by the de-glow disch arge process are placed on the surface but rather they are distributed homo geneously within the precursor film. Using (CH4-)-C-13 isotopic labeling it was shown that the nanodiamond films formed by the de-glow discharge proce ss are stable under standard HF CVD conditions. Only a fraction of the nano diamond particles deposited by the de-glow discharge processes serve as nuc leation centers for the growth of diamond. A complex interlayer composed of a nanodiamond composite is formed between the silicon substrate and the mi crocrystalline diamond film. (C) 2000 American Vacuum Society. [S0734-2101( 00)04606-6].