Thermochemical grinding of diamond films in installation for chemical vapor deposition of diamond from the gas phase

The paper studies the process of thermochemical grinding of diamond polycrystalline films in atomic hydrogen, using microwave to generate a plasma discharge, in the temperature range 1000 - 1100 0C. It is established that the increase in temperature leads to an increase in the rate of diamond dissolution due to the formation of eutectic. The study of roughness showed that after thermochemical grinding roughness of the diamond film is about 0, 8 urn. The speed of thermochemical grinding varies from 20 um/h to 3 mm/h Raman spectroscopy allowed us to establish that thermochemical grinding does not degrade the quality of the diamond film, and atomic hydrogen reduces the possible graphitization caused by heating.It is suggested that the mechanism of gas bubbles in the process of thermochemical grinding associated with the formation of methane and its subsequent decomposition into a methyl radical and atomic hydrogen in the plasma discharge.