Diamond nucleation and growth on TaN2

High quality diamond films have been deposited on tantalum nitride (TaN2) materials, which are used as heating elements for high-speed thermal printing heads, by using the microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition technique via a particular pretreatment, intercurrent treatment, and shutdown process. Scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy were employed to investigate the structure and quality of the films. A highly adherent film-substrate system was obtained. The possibility of chemical vapor deposition diamond films being used as protective layers of thermal printing heads is indicated. The low-temperature pretreatment with a methane-rich hydrogen plasma plays an important role in nucleating diamond crystallites on the TaN2 substrate, thus enhancing the nucleation density and making it possible to form a continuous diamond film on TaN2. A speculation is proposed to interpret the effect. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.