TRANSIENT NUCLEATION OF DIAMOND - THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY

Formation of diamond clusters (nucleation) on Si-substrates is studied both theoretically and experimentally. Measured number density of dep osited diamond particles (with diameters 0.05 greater than or equal to mu m) corresponds to supercritical cluster sizes. Time delay of this process (which corresponds to the transient time of nucleation and gro wth of diamond nucleus to observable size) is determined by solving th e Fokker-Planck-like equation as a function of the cluster size, tempe rature of the Si-wafer and of the supersaturation. It is shown that th eoretically computed characteristics are in good agreement with our ex perimental data and also with the currently accepted picture of hetero geneous nucleation of diamond. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.