This dissertation describes improvements in the growth of single crystal diamond by microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Heteroepitaxial (001) diamond was grown on 1 cm^2 a-plane sapphire substrates using an epitaxial (001) Ir thin-film as a buffer layer. Low-energy ion bombardment of the Ir layer, a process known as bias-enhanced nucleation, is a key step in achieving a high density of diamond nuclei. Bias conditions were optimized to form uniformly-high nucleation densities across the substrates, which led to well-coalesced diamond thin films after short growth times.Epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) was used as a means of decreasing diamond internalstress by impeding the propagation of threading dislocations into the growing material. Its use in diamond growth requires adaptation to the aggressive chemical and thermal environment of the hydrogen plasma in a CVD reactor. Three ELO variants were developed. The most successful utilized a gold (Au) mask prepared by vacuum evaporation onto the surface of a thin heteroepitaxial diamond layer. The Au mask pattern, a series of parallel stripes on the micrometer scale, was produced by standard lift-off photolithography. When diamond overgrows the mask, dislocations are largely confined to the substrate. Differing degrees of confinement were studied by varying the stripe geometry and orientation. Significant improvement in diamond quality was found in the overgrown regions, as evidenced by reduction of the Raman scattering linewidth. The Au layer was found to remain intact during diamond overgrowth and did not chemically bond with the diamond surface. Besides impeding the propagation of threading dislocations, it was discovered that the thermally-induced stress in the CVD diamond was significantly reduced as a result of the ductile Au layer. Cracking and delamination of the diamond from the substrate was mostly eliminated. When diamond was grown to thicknesses above 0.1 mm it was found that crystallographic perfection continuously improved, leading to a diamond surface nearly free of stress.
Read
