OVERVIEW OF THE CHARACTERIZATION METHODS OF THE GROWTH MECHANISMS OF LOW-PRESSURE DIAMOND

Although it is quite easy to grow diamond on various substrates at low pressure, up to now no one has succeeded in preparing continuous diamond films with the extraordinary properties of bulk diamond. One has to seek improvements in the deposition conditions, but it is also very important to study the diamond nucleation and growth mechanisms. This paper reports on characterization techniques of diamond films: Raman spectroscopy which probes the bulk of the film and Auger electron, UV photoemission and electron energy loss spectroscopies which probe the surface of the film.