Bias process for heteroepitaxial diamond nucleation on Ir substrates

Heteroepitaxy is a better method of enlarging SCD wafer size than homoepitaxy. In this work, several aspects of the bias process for heteroepitaxial diamond nucleation are studied experimentally. First, with increasing bias time, the diamond-nucleation pathway is found to transform from "isolated-crystal nucleation " to "typical domain-nucleation " and back to "isolated-crystal nucleation. " An interdependent relationship between bias voltage and bias time is proposed: the higher the bias voltage, the shorter the bias time. Second, a correlation exists between the threshold bias voltage and reactor-chamber pressure: a higher reactor chamber pressure usually requires a higher threshold bias voltage to realize "typical domain nucleation. " Third, diamond bias-enhanced nucleation and growth is observed at a high CH4 content, where the dynamic equilibrium between amorphous-carbon-layer deposition and atomic-hydrogen etching is broken. Finally, epitaxial nucleation is obtained on a substrate with empty set 30 mm in a home-made MPCVD setup.