Abstract
The effects of nitrogen addition on the diamond deposition process were studied in a 915-MHz MPCVD (microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) system. Nitrogen addition would result in {100} textured morphology and increased the growth rate, but the quality, the uniformity and the thickness of the film degraded in contrast with the CH 4 /H 2 system without nitrogen addition. The grown film at the central region had a {100} textured morphology with high phase purity at a growth rate of about 7 μm/hr, while that at the outer region had a non-faceted morphology with poor phase purity at the growth rate of 2-3 μm/hr. Higher microwave power and reactor pressure increases the dimension of the faceted morphology, but not necessarily the growth rate. The effect of the nitrogen concentration was also examined in the current study.