Quantitative investigation of boron incorporation in polycrystalline CVD diamond films by SIMS

Polycrystalline diamond films have been produced on pre-treated silicon substrate by CVD hot filament method, with B(C2H5)(3) added to the gas phase. However, under identical surface conditions, boron incorporation is not homogeneous. In {111} growth sectors, the boron concentration is found to be about 5 times higher than in {100} growth sectors. Moreover, a marked increase in contaminating elements such as aluminium and sodium in regions with higher boron concentrations is detected. Under SIMS fine focus conditions it can be shown that the interface between these two different facet. regions is smaller than 0.5 mu m. With 3D-depth profile images it can also be shown that the carbon distribution in the diamond layer is not totally homogeneous.