Grid and substrate bias effects on mechanical properties of diamond films prepared by HFCVD

Diamond films were prepared at different grid bias and substrate bias in hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) system. The Raman and SEM results show that grain size decreases and non-diamond impurities increase for applying grid and substrate bias currents. The defects and impurities in the film increase with the decrease of grain size, which causes the decrease of hardness and elastic modulus of diamond films. The fracture toughness of film increases because of the grain size effects by applying bias. The grid bias and substrate bias make the friction coefficient smaller because of the smaller grain size and lubricating effect of graphite in the film. But the excessively high substrate bias current will lead to the dramatic decrease of mechanical properties of CVD diamond as a lot of non-diamond impurities appear in the film.