Annealing of ion beam amorphized diamond surfaces studied by in situ electron spectroscopy

Abstract In the present work the effect of annealing an amorphized diamond (100) surface by 0.5 keV Ar irradiation was investigated in situ using electron spectroscopy. The recovery of the damaged layer to an sp 2 , graphitic-like, carbon network structure was traced by the effect of heat treatment in the range 300–1200 K on the C(KLL) line shape, electron energy loss (EEL) and secondary electron emission (SEE) spectra. The analysis suggests that the graphitization of the damaged layer is a thermally activated process. From a quantitative analysis of the EEL spectra measured as a function of annealing time at 600 K, the graphitization process of the damaged layer was found to follow a first-order kinetic process with activation energy of approximately 178 kJ mol −1 .