Enhanced nucleation of diamond films on pretreated substrates

One interesting application of polycrystalline diamond films is the coating of cutting tools. The main problem herewith-the poor adhesion of the films-has been successfully overcome using mechanical or chemical pretreatments or intermediate layers. Besides adhesion, a significant aspect of film quality and performance is connected to size and orientation of the diamond grains, which depends on nucleation. In these investigations, different mechanical and chemical pretreatments as well as intermediate layers are produced to examine their influence on nucleation density, orientation of nuclei, etc. The effects of pretreatment on the nucleation process have been studied by EDX and scanning electron microscopy. It has been shown, for example, that the nucleation density can be significantly enhanced if combined methods of pretreatment are used. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.