DIAMOND DEPOSITION IN A PERMANENT-MAGNET MICROWAVE ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON RESONANCE DISCHARGE

Diamond deposition has been investigated in a magnetoactive microwave discharge, in which a collisionally damped electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) is established by a Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet structure. Diamond crystals exhibiting a well defined 1333 cm-1 diamond Raman peak and a faceted crystal structure can be grown in hydrocarbon gas mixtures at total pressures 2.0-20 Torr, backside substrate temperatures 550-650-degrees-C, and input microwave power levels 400-1000 W. The main effect of the magnetic field is to increase gas dissociation; optical emission spectroscopic measurements show much higher neutral radical line intensities compared to operation with no magnetic field.