Comparison study of nucleation and growth characteristics of chemical-vapor-deposited diamond films on CoSi2 (001) and Si(001)

Epitaxial CoSi2 (001) layers, deposited on Si(001) substrates by molecular beam allotaxy, were used as substrates for diamond deposition in order to realize applications. The nucleation and textured growth of diamond films were compared with those on the Si(001) substrates. The results indicate that in a microwaveplasma chamber diamond can be nucleated with a higher density on CoSi2 at lower temperatures using a biasenhanced method. High-quality [001]-textured diamond films can be synthesized on CoSi2 (001) using the [001]-textured growht conditions. So far, epitaxial growth of diamond on CoSi2 cannot be observed. Statistically, a rotating angle distribution of diamond grains around the [001] axis in a [001]-textured films shows, however, preferred in-plane orientations of 13 degrees, 22 degreees, 45 degrees, and 77 degrees relative to the CoSi2 [011] axis. The structural and chemical analyses show that no Co and Si element diffusion from the CoSi2 substrate into the diamond film can be detected. The films grown on CoSi2 have similar crystal quality to that of epitaxial films deposited directly on Si.