Synthesis of diamond nanocrystals on polyimide film

Sulfur-assisted hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) was recently employed to grow diamond nano-crystals on polyimide film [F. Piazza, G. Morell, Diamond and Related Materials, 16 (2007) 1950], unambiguously showing that the substrate temperature was below 360 °C, the polyimide glass transition temperature. This accomplishment has opened the door to employ diamond in a wide range of applications where it needs to be integrated with temperature sensitive materials. The result reported earlier relies on visible Raman spectroscopy analysis. We hereby report new additional evidences confirming the result from transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, electron energy loss spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction.