DEPOSITION OF DIAMOND ONTO ALUMINUM BY ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON RESONANCE MICROWAVE PLASMA-ASSISTED CVD

Diamond crystallites and thin films have been deposited onto polycrystalline aluminum substrates utilizing an electron cyclotron resonance microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (ECR-PACVD) method. For all depositions, the substrates were biased to +40 V dc with respect to ground and their temperature was maintained at 500-degrees-C. Similar deposits were obtained from two different feedgas systems at a total pressure of 1.33 Pa (10 mTorr). The first system consisted of a carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H-2) mixture (CO:H-2 = 20:80), and the second was a methane (CH4), oxygen (O2), and hydrogen (H-2) Mixture (CH4:O2:H-2 = 21:10:69). The deposits were subsequently characterized by scanning electron microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The results of these analyses indicate that polycrystalline diamond was deposited onto aluminum substrates, as both individual crystallites and continuous films.