Fluid boundary layer effects in atmospheric-pressure plasma diamond film deposition

S. L. Girshick, C. Li, B. W. Yu, H. Han

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

59 Scopus citations

Abstract

Diamond films were deposited in an atmospheric-pressure radio frequency plasma reactor. Hydrogen and methane were injected coaxially into the plasma as a high-velocity jet which impinged on the molybdenum substrate. In some cases argon was added to the reactant jet to increase its momentum, thereby reducing the boundary layer thickness. In most cases argon addition substantially, improved diamond growth. A numerical model was developed, which calculated two-dimensional reactor temperature and velocity, distributions, and the chemical kinetics in the boundary layer. The calculations indicate that under the experimental conditions argon addition reduced the thickness of the hydrogen nonequilibrium boundary layer from 3.5 to 1.0 mm. In addition, the calculations suggest that monatomic carbon may be a key diamond growth species under thermal plasma conditions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)169-187
Number of pages19
JournalPlasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing
Volume13
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 1993

Keywords

  • Thermal plasmas
  • atomic carbon
  • chemical vapor deposition
  • diamond film
  • impinging jet

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