This grant, funded jointly by the Office of Special Projects in Chemistry and the Division of Materials Research provides support for the collaborative research of Drs. D'Evelyn and Hauge in Chemistry and Dr. Margrave in Materials Research at Rice University. The objective of the research is the elucidation of the surface mechanisms in diamond growth prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) under well-defined conditions. Synthetic processes for the production of diamond films is an area of high technological interest. The work will employ chemically activated precursors, and will combine surface science studies of chemisorption and reaction with studies of the growth of macroscopic diamond films by low pressure CVD. This work will explore the structure and reactivity of adsorbed hydrogen and CH species, the relationship between the reaction conditions and the growth rate and quality of diamond films, the importance of nonthermal reactions in the growth process, and reactions of dopant precursors. Clean and adsorbate-covered single-crystal diamond surfaces will be characterized by low energy electron diffraction, Auger spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy and other advanced surface analytical techniques. Rate constants for elementary surface reactions will be determined. Diamond films grown by CVD using C-13 labeled precursors on diamond substrates will be characterized by Raman spectroscopy, reflection electron diffraction, electron microscopy and infrared attenuated total reflectance. The utility of laser-desorption mass spectrometry and laser ellipsometry as in situ probes of CVD growth will also be explored.
