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Surfaces with very poor mechanical and frictional properties can be improved, or even, acquire new properties similar to diamond if good adherent CVD diamond film is obtained on it. In this work, nitrogen ions were sub-implanted on pure molybdenum as a means to enhance CVD diamond film adherence. Deposition time from 2 up to 60 h were used for deposition of 10 to 400 µm thick CVD diamond films with very good adherence on sub-implanted molybdenum substrate. Characterizations were carried out by XPS, X-ray diffraction and nano indentation on prepared surfaces prior to diamond growth and after the onset nucleation. The ionic sub-implantation with nitrogen possibly assists in adhesion, with the creation of a thin layer of nitrates and complexes.

In this work we study the influence of oxygen addition to several halocarbon-hydrogen gas systems. Diamond growth have been performed in a high power density MWCVD reactor built in our laboratory. The growth experiments are monitored by argon actinometry as a reference to plasma temperature and atomic hydrogen production, and by mass spectrometry to compare the exhaust gas composition. Atomic hydrogen actinometry revealed that the halogen presence in the gas phase is responsible for a considerable increase of atomic hydrogen concentration in the gas phase. Mass spectrometry shows similar results for all gas mixtures tested. Growth studies with oxygen addition to CF4/H2, CCl4/H2, CCl2F2/H2 and CH3Cl/H2 reveals that oxygen increases the carbon solubility in the gas phase but no better diamond growth conditions were found. Halogens are not, per se, eligible for diamond growth. All the possible advantages, as the higher production of atomic hydrogen, have been suppressed by the low carbon solubility in the gas phase, even when oxygen is added. The diamond growth with small amount of CF4 added to CH4/H2 mixture is not aggressive to the apparatus but brings several advantages to the process.

Boron-doped polycrystalline diamond films have been deposited over silicon substrate by hot-filament chemical-vapor-deposition process. A gas mixture of 0,5 vol. % methane and 1 vol. % methanol on hydrogen at a pressure of 50 Torr, have been used. Boric oxide dissolved in methanol have been used as the boron doping source during the diamond growth process. Raman spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) have been performed on the samples. A change of Raman spectra with film doping was observed. The diamond characteristic line at 1333 cm-1 down shifted and its intensity decreased as the film resistivity decreased. On the other hand, a broad peak around 1220 cm-1 appeared and its intensity increased with decreasing film resistivity. No modifications on films morphology have been observed with different boron doping level. The grains were well-faceted with 2 mm average size