Selected‐area deposition of diamond films

Selected‐area deposition of diamond film has been accomplished on Si substrates prepared by two different methods: reactive‐ion etching (RIE) and amorphous‐Si masking (ASM). In the RIE method, a Si substrate polished by a diamond paste was patterned with a photoresist mask, and the unprotected areas were etched by RIE, followed by a complete removal of the photoresist films. The diamond deposition was done by electron‐assisted chemical‐vapor deposition (CVD), and diamond films grew only in the areas once covered with the photoresist films and not etched by RIE. In the ASM method, a polished Si substrate was also photolithographically masked with photoresist, followed by a uniform deposition of a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) film. The photoresist film was then lifted off together with the overlay of deposited a‐Si:H, leaving the polished Si surface patterned with an a‐Si:H mask. In this case, the diamond deposition was done by microwave plasma CVD, and diamond films grew only in the areas not co...