Abstract

We treated four different Si (100) substrates with dc negative bias for 5, 10, 20 and 60 minutes each. Then, we deposited diamond films with uniform thickness of about 34.5 μm onto four Si (100) substrates under the same growth condition. Bias-treated Si surfaces before the deposition of diamond films were analyzed using Raman spectroscopy, HRTEM and AES to investigate the nature of nucleation enhancing layer. The analysis showed that amorphous carbon layer was formed during bias treatment (SiC formation was not identified). We also analyzed bias-treated Si surfaces using conventional TEM. TEM images showed the clear overall procedure of amorphous carbon layer growth as biasing time increased.