Abstract
A simple method has been developed to fabricate diamond nanorods by oxyen plasma etching assisted with a nanoscale titanium metal layer. Vertically oriented diamond nanorods were fabricated for 12 hours on polycrystalline diamond substrate by plasma etching at 100W. The average diameter is about 100-120 nm and average length is about 4 um for diamond nanorods. After cleaning residual oxide on diamond nanorods surface using H2SO4, the average diameter reduce to about 10-20 nm. And they would be nano-scale rods structure. Diamond nanorods are single crystal looking from zone axis [011], confirmed by TEM analysis. A modal is proposed to explain how the diamond nanorods are formed. TiO2 nanoparticles are first formed onto diamond film in etching process, And TiO2 acts as nano masks subsequent for oxygen plasma etching. After etching diamond film for a long time, diamond nanorods were successfully formed.