NSF Award
9160096
The synthesis of diamond at low pressure by the plasma assisted vapor deposition process has opened up the prospect for the realization of diamond based electronic devices with superior performance and high temperature and radiation tolerance capabilities. Such applications require the diamond film to be in single crystal form. The realization of epitaxial grown single crystal diamond in any significant size, however, remains as an illusive goal mainly due to present lack of understanding and ability to control the nucleation process. An alternate strategy for low pressure homo-epitaxial growth of single crystal diamond films which preserves the substrate by employing cyclic growth, lift-off and regrowth is proposed. The strategy is based on sub-level amorphization by ion-implantation techniques that have been demonstrated in other contexts. The Phase I effort is to determine if these techniques can be combined sequentially and remain effective, leading to the realization of an effective technique for the preparation of single crystal diamond films.
