STRESS MEASUREMENT OF CVD DIAMOND FILMS

A review of common stress measurement techniques as related to CVD diamond is presented. A correction to the commonly applied Stoney thin film equation for the substrate curvature technique is presented for coatings with a large stiffness mismatch with the substrate. The difficulties associated with the sin(2) psi and peak width broadening X-ray diffraction techniques in highly oriented, X-ray transparent diamond are highlighted. Stress measurement by Raman spectroscopy is complicated by factors such as domain size, temperature, non-hydrostatic stress, degeneracy lifting and the presence of multiple peaks. Substrate curvature and Raman spectroscopy stress measurement results can be reconciled through consideration of these complicating factors and application of the appropriate corrections.