Diamond growth chemistry: Its observation using real time in situ molecular beam scattering techniques

The chemical reactive properties of deuterated methyl radicals on CVD diamond surfaces have been studied with thermal desorption, reactive molecular beam scattering and stochastic simulation techniques, both in the absence and presence of an H-atom flux. The thermal decomposition of adsorbed methyl is shown to be strongly influenced by the concentration of free surface sites. The probability of abstraction of D from adsorbed CD3 by atomic H is 0.05 whilst the probability for removal in the form of methane (CD3H) is 0.01. The implications of the results to diamond CVD are discussed. © 1997 Elsevier Science S.A