Abstract

We report on the growth and characterization of a 100 µm thick by 350 µm diameter diamond layer on the culet of a type la brilliant cut natural diamond anvil by microwave plasma-assisted CVD (MPCVD). While our previous work [1] on diamond anvils resulted in homoépitaxial film growth at a rate of approximately 20 µm/hr, the present 100 pm thick diamond layer grew in less than 2 hours. This unprecedented growth rate of ~ 50 µm /hr is believed to be the result of the extremely high substrate temperature (1800°-2100° C) during deposition. The translucent diamond layer was characterized by micro-Raman, low temperature photoluminescence (PL) and PL excitation spectroscopy, as well as atomic force microscopy (AFM). Raman analysis shows the deposit to be of high quality. The PL spectra show numerous features, including prominent emission bands at 575 nm (2.16 eV), 636 nm (1.95 eV), 735 nm (1.68 eV) and 777 nm (1.60 eV).