Focused ion-beam crater arrays for induced nucleation of diamond film

Abstract

Diamond thin-films on nondiamond substrates characteristically exhibit a highly disordered polycrystalline microstructure and poor surface morphology. A major factor involved in this unsatisfactory growth behavior is a very-low density-of-nucleation on most surfaces. It is feasible that ion milling by a focused ion-beam can be utilized to introduce precise arrays of effective nucleation sites for diamond-film deposition. Possibilities for improved diamond-film microstructure and morphology are expected to result.