Real-time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry studies of the Effect of Preparation Parameters on the Coalescence Characteristics of Microwave-PECVD Diamond Films

The growth of diamond films in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) processes requires high substrate temperatures and gas pressures, as well as high-power excitation of the gas source. Thus determining the substrate temperature in this severe environment is a challenge. The issue is a critical one since substrate temperature is a key parameter for understanding and optimizing diamond film growth. The precise Si substrate temperature calibration based on rapid-scanning spectroscopic ellipsometry have been developed and utilized. Using the true temperature of the top 200 ${\AA}$ of the Si substrate under diamond growth conditions, real time spectroellipsometry (RTSE) has been performed during the nucleation and growth of nanocrystallind thin films prepared by PECVD. RTSE shows that a significant volume fraction of nondiamond(or{{{{ {sp }^{2 } -bonded}}}}) carbon forms during thin film coalescence and is trapped near the substrate interface between ∼300 ${\AA}$ diamond nuclei.