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Growth and characterization of diamond films deposited at high-pressure using a low-power microwave plasma reactor

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Abstract

Diamond films were deposited on molybdenum substrates from mixtures of methane diluted in hydrogen using a high-pressure microwave plasma reactor. In this reactor, a compressed waveguide structure was used to increase the electric field strength, and accordingly the reactor was able to operate stably with low gas flow rate and microwave power. The films deposited on 12 mm diameter substrates were characterized by film morphology, Raman spectra, growth rate and crystalline quality. The morphology of diamond films deposited in this reactor depends mainly on the substrate temperature. When the deposition pressure was 48 kPa and microwave power was only 800 W, high quality diamond films could be uniformly deposited with a growth rate around 20 μm/h.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab. of Plasma Chemistry and Advanced Materials in Hubei Province, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430073, China

    Lei Zhang, Zhibin Ma & Lifeng Wu

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  1. Lei Zhang
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  2. Zhibin Ma
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  3. Lifeng Wu
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Correspondence to Lei Zhang.

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Zhang, L., Ma, Z. & Wu, L. Growth and characterization of diamond films deposited at high-pressure using a low-power microwave plasma reactor. Inorg Mater 47, 255–261 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S002016851103023X

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S002016851103023X

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