SBIR Phase I: Plasma Enhanched Hot Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition of Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Thin Films

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将确定使用等离子体增强热丝化学气相沉积(PEHFCVD)技术作为大规模沉积超纳米晶金刚石(UNCD)薄膜的制造平台的可行性和适宜性。今天，UNCD是通过微波等离子体化学气相沉积(MPCVD)使用独特的富氩等离子体化学合成的。到目前为止，MPCVD是唯一已知的沉积UNCd的方法，因为C2和C2H自由基是通过Ar+和C2H2之间的Penning电离碰撞产生的。HFCVD是一种极具吸引力的可扩展和经济的制造平台，因为最近的进展使其适用于大面积均匀沉积微晶和纳米晶金刚石薄膜，但通常只通过热分解产生自由基。这项工作的重点是研究独特的(和专利的)UNCD生长工艺在HFCVD平台上的可移植性，方法是利用直流等离子体放电在热分解之外通过非平衡工艺产生C2，并使用各种材料表征技术对以这种方式生长的薄膜进行分析，以确保薄膜具有UNCD薄膜固有的所需材料特性。这一努力的商业价值是通过开发与MPCVD相比更强大的大面积UNCD沉积平台来提高制造产能和降低成本。一个制造UNCD的大面积、经济的平台将使钻石成为一种引人注目的材料，将变得负担得起从摩擦学涂层(通过降低摩擦来节省能源)、电子设备(非凡的热管理)和生物医疗设备(可植入设备，如视网膜假体)的各种应用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will determine the feasibility and suitability of using a plasma enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition (PEHFCVD) technology as a manufacturing platform for the large scale deposition of ultra nanocrystalline diamond (UNCD) thin films. UNCD is synthesized today using a unique argon-rich plasma chemistry via microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD). As of today, MPCVD is the only known way to deposit UNCD, since C2 and C2H radicals are produced via Penning ionization collisions between Ar+ and C2H2. HFCVD is an attractive candidate to create a more scalable and economical manufacturing platform because recent advances have made it suitable for the large area uniform deposition of microcrystalline and nanocrystalline diamond thin films, but normally only produces radicals via thermal decomposition. The focus of the proposed work is to investigate the transferability of the unique (and patented) UNCD growth process to the HFCVD platform by utilizing a DC plasma discharge to generate C2 via nonequilibrium processes in addition to thermal decomposition, and to assay the films grown in this way using a variety of material characterization techniques to ensure that the films possess the desired materials properties inherent to UNCD thin films.The commercial value of this endeavor is to increase manufacturing throughput and lower costs through the development of a more robust large-area platform for UNCD deposition as compared to MPCVD. A large area, economical platform for manufacturing UNCD would make diamond a compelling material that would become affordable for applications ranging from tribological coatings (saving energy by lowering friction); electronics (extraordinary thermal management); and biomedical devices (implantable devices such as retinal prostheses).