Preparation of
Diamond Surfaces
Gas/Surface Dynamics Section
Naval Research Laboratory
Washington DC 20375
202-767-1115
202-767-3321 fax
Abstract:
Fundamental to understanding of how diamond interfaces and interacts with other materials and environments is the Diamond Surface, its structure and chemistry. However, production of single crystal diamond surfaces with reproducible structure and chemistry is problematic due to the metastablity of diamond and the damage caused by traditional surface preparation techniques such as polishing, abrasive or laser cutting, ion sputtering and annealing. The quality of the diamond surface is important to fundamental surface science studies, the use of the surface as a template for homoepitaxial growth, and as an interface for adhesion and bonding to other materials. This work will describe our current understanding and methods employed for preparing high quality diamond surfaces using polishing, chemical cleaning, and plasma treatments.