Characterization of homoepitaxial CVD diamond grown at moderate microwave power

In this paper, we report on the characterization of homoepitaxial CVD diamond grown onto HPHT Ib diamond substrates by varying systematically the methane to hydrogen ratio in the deposition gas mixture (1–7%) and the microwave power (520–720 W). Growth rates up to approximately 2.2 μm/h have been achieved. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) have been used to characterize the diamond samples. Raman measurements point out an excellent crystalline quality and phase purity of the homoepitaxial specimens even at the highest CH4 concentration used. Completely flat PL spectra registered in a wide energy range (1.7–2.7 eV) exclude impurity contamination of the diamond samples. Such results show that homoepitaxial CVD diamond can be grown, at moderate microwave power and with moderate growth rate, preserving a good crystalline quality.