The effect of ballpoint pen ink coating on the nucleation enhancement of low-pressure diamond
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A novel technique to enhance the nucleation of low-pressure diamond on silicon (100) was discussed in this study. It was found that coating the silicon with ballpoint pen ink can greatly increase the diamond nucleation density when the coating was followed by heat treatment at 100 °C-400 °C. Moreover, the optimum enhancement effect was reached when the ink coating was pre-heat-treated at 300 °C X 30 min. Further SEM observation showed that heat treatment at 200 °C-400 °C produced many tiny carbonaceous particles on ballpoint pen ink-coated silicon. Particularly, the nucleation density of diamond on differently treated silicon, such as ink-coated, diamond paste scratched and polished silicon wafers, was compared using the SEM technique. The diamond structure was also characterized by Raman spectroscopy.
I. INTRODUCTION Nucleation is very important in diamond film deposition. The most commonly used technique to enhance diamond nucleation is to scratch or seed the substrate surface with submicron diamond paste or powder.1"3
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It is believed that the diamond residue or dust on the scratched or seeded substrates serves as the low-pressure diamond nucleation sites.1'3 Recently, however, Yoichi et al.4 demonstrated that several oil coatings such as high vacuum oil, magic oil, etc. can also remarkably
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FIG. 1. SEM micrographs of ink coatings pre-heat-treated at (a) 100 °C X 60 min, (b) 200 °C X 60 min, (c) 300 °C X 30 min, and (d) 400 °C X 30 min (P indicates the polished side of silicon, C indicates the ink-coated side of silicon, and I means the interface of the above two sides). J. Mater. Res., Vol. 9, No. 6, Jun 1994 http://journals.cambridge.org
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© 1994 Materials Research Society IP address: 131.111.185.72
P. XiLing: The effect of ballpoint pen ink coating on the nucleation enhancement of low-pressure diamond
increase the nucleation density of low-pressure diamond on substrates such as silicon, silica, copper, etc. This result is very stimulating and provided a new way to enhance the diamond nucleation on substrates that require no surface damage. Moreover, it may contribute a new thought to the low-pressure diamond nucleation mechanism. In this study, the effect of ballpoint pen ink coating on the diamond nucleation behavior was investigated. A new diamond nucleation mechanism was proposed: low-pressure diamond nucleated on tiny carbonaceous clusters which were formed by the pre-heat treatment of ink-coated silicon, and these carbonaceous clusters may even transfer to diamonds directly under the following diamond deposition conditions.
II. EXPERIMENTAL The silicon (100) wafers were coated with conventional ballpoint pen ink (obtained from the ordinary ballpoint pen tube; its composition is not analyzed here) and then heat-treated at 100 °C and 200 °C for 60 min, and 300 °C and 400 °C for 30 min, respectively, in the hydrogen atmosphere of 6 KPa pressure. Subsequen
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