Substrate effects during nucleation and growth of CVD diamond

The low-pressure CVD synthesis of diamond enables the growth of pure diamon d coatings from the gas phase. For this process, in all cases, a substrate is needed on which diamond can nucleate and grow. Besides the diamond depos ition parameters (e.g., pressure, temperature, gas flow), which directly in fluence the diamond nucleation and growth, the nature of the substrates and their interactions with the reaction gases and the diamond are important f actors to consider in order to achieve good deposition results. The main su bstrate interactions and their influences on diamond deposition are summari zed. Additionally a short overview of the substrate pre-treatment process a nd diamond epitaxy is given.