Diamond Deposition in Plasma Activated CVD Reactors

The general approaches to the elaboration of two-dimensional models of plasma activated chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) reactors are discussed. The models have been used to study the gas-phase and surface processes of diamond growth in continuous dc, pulsed dc and microwave discharge CVD reactors. The gas-phase and surface reaction mechanisms, the molecular diffusion and thermodiffiision, difhisional thermoeffects have been taken into account in transport equations that are numerically solved. The expressions for diamond growth and etching rates have been derived from surface kinetics. Dependencies of the growth rate and species distribution from variations of dc discharge reactor parameters (total current, gas pressure, carbon content) are obtained. A possibility of diamond growth rate enhancement in a pulsed dc discharge CVD reactor is examined.