Effect of catalyst on growth of diamond by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The nanodiamonds (NDs) were produced on glass substrates by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method. Acetylene (C2H2) diluted in H2 were used as the reaction gasses as source of carbon and diluting gasses, respectively. The NDs have structures with high quality and density obtained by the selective Ni catalyst. The synthesized NDs have cubic structures with an average diameter of about 300 nm. This research focuses on the evolution of nickel catalyst under hydrogen/acetylene gasses at 320°C. The presence of the ND structure was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy analyses. It was found that the selective catalyst played an important role in producing ND structures by PECVD method on glass substrate in this research.