Transparent nanocrystalline diamond coatings and devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9741561-B2
Application number	US-201514796527-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2015
Priority date	Jul 10, 2015
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A method for coating a substrate comprises producing a plasma ball using a microwave plasma source in the presence of a mixture of gases. The plasma ball has a diameter. The plasma ball is disposed at a first distance from the substrate and the substrate is maintained at a first temperature. The plasma ball is maintained at the first distance from the substrate, and a diamond coating is deposited on the substrate. The diamond coating has a thickness. Furthermore, the diamond coating has an optical transparency of greater than about 80%. The diamond coating can include nanocrystalline diamond. The microwave plasma source can have a frequency of about 915 MHz.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for forming a transparent semi-conductor device, comprising:
producing a plasma ball using a microwave plasma source in the presence of a mixture of gases, the plasma ball having a diameter;
disposing the plasma ball at a first distance from a substrate, the substrate maintained at a first temperature;
maintaining the plasma ball at the first distance from the substrate for a first time;
depositing a nanocrystalline diamond film on the substrate, the nanocrystalline diamond film having a thickness, the nanocrystalline diamond film having a transparency of greater than about 80 percent;
doping the nanocrystalline diamond film with at least one of a p-type dopant and a n-type dopant; and
annealing the substrate with the nanocrystalline diamond film disposed thereon at a second temperature for a second time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a frequency of the microwave plasma source is about 915 MHz.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the plasma ball is about 15 cms to about 30 cms.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture of gases includes argon, methane and hydrogen.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first temperature is in the range of about 200 degrees Celsius to about 450 degrees Celsius.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the nanocrystalline diamond film is in the range of about 30 nm to about 150 nm.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second temperature is about 800 degrees Celsius to about 1,200 degrees Celsius.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second time is less than about 20 seconds.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate includes at least one of silicon oxide, glass, quartz, indium tin oxide, aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide and sapphire.

Assignees

• Uchicago Argonne Llc

Inventors

• Sumant Anirudha V
• Khan Adam

Classifications

• H10P14/3444

  P-type · CPC title

• H10P14/3442

  N-type · CPC title

• H10P14/24

  using chemical vapour deposition [CVD] · CPC title

• H10W40/254

  Diamond · CPC title

• H10P14/3406 Primary

  Carbon, e.g. diamond-like carbon · CPC title