Diamond Deposition onto Flat Substrates

CVD of a range of thin films has been employed extensively in the semiconductor industry where, in addition to the required film properties, the reliability and uniformity are key requirements. Diamond deposited onto silicon substrates has been widely researched using both microwave and hot filament chemical vapour deposition (CVD). In this chapter hot-filament CVD has been employed to deposit diamond onto flat substrates to prove that the process is reliable and reproducible in terms of crystallinity and thickness and to study the adhesion onto the substrates used. It is problematic to deposited diamond onto metallic substrates such as stainless steel and therefore interlayers of TiN or TiC were employed to provide improved adhesion. The characteristics of the interlayers and the diamond films have been determined.