Recent developments in the science and technology of diamond deposition have, surprisingly, almost kept pace with the expectations generated by the popular press. Diamond of optical, i.e. gem, quality has been deposited on silica based glasses. In addition, free standing, optical quality films have been prepared by numerous laboratories in both the U.S. and Japan. Despite the rapid progress of recent months several goals have proved elusive. These include such important ones as uniform, high density (~10⁸ cm^-2 or greater) nucleation without surface damage and commercially feasible rates of deposition (~0.1 to 1 μm/hr) at substrate temperatures below 500°C. It has been found that the "quality" of diamond deposited at low substrate temperatures can be equivalent to that obtained at more conventional deposition temperatures of 800° to 1000° C. Nevertheless, the achievements which have been accomplished show significant promise for the future.

Date Published: 15 January 1989
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 1146, Diamond Optics II, (15 January 1989); doi: 10.1117/12.962056

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1146:
Diamond Optics II
Albert Feldman; Sandor Holly, Editor(s)