Atomic carbon insertion as a low-substrate-temperature growth mechanism in diamond CVD

摘要

In diamond film growth, several researchers have reported a change in the apparent activation energyat substrate temperatures between 900 and 1000 K. A new growth mechanism, based on atomiccarbon insertion into carbon-hydrogen bonds, was recently proposed to explain this phenomenon.This paper gives supporting evidence for this insertion of C{sub}1 radicals in diamond CVD. Gas-phase experiments have shown that methylene, methyne, and atomic carbon insert easily into C-Hbonds, implying that similar reactions are possible on a hydrogenated diamond surface. Numericalsimulations of diamond growth in a chlorineactivated diamond CVD system are shown to agree muchmore closely with experimental data when carbon insertion reactions are included.