FORMATION OF NANOCRYSTALLINE DIAMOND THIN FILMS ON Ti3SiC2 BY HOT FILAMENT CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION

Nucleation and growth of diamond thin films on Ti(3)SiC(2) by hot filament (HF) chemical vapor deposition (CVD), under typical microcrystalline diamond (MCD) growth conditions, was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron near edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS) were used to characterize the synthesized diamond. High density diamond-graphite whiskers were initially formed on the surface of Ti(3)SiC(2), which induced a high diamond nucleation density. Consequently, dense smooth nanocrystalline diamond (NCD thin films were synthesized on Ti(3)SiC(2) after 1 h deposition. The synthesized NCD films consist mainly of crystalline diamond with a small amount of graphitic sp(2) carbon. The results indicate that Ti(3)SiC(2) has great potentials to be used as substrate materials for NCD diamond thin film deposition.