Enhancement of diamond nucleation on silicon substrates in pulsed laser assisted hot filament CVD

In hot-filament chemical vapour deposition, diamond nucleation on untreated silicon substrates has been enhanced by pulsed laser radiation. The effect of laser intensity on the diamond nucleation density was investigated. With laser irradiation, the diamond nucleation was enhanced by a factor 8, and taking the dwell time of the laser into account by a factor of 5=104. The temporal distribution and maximum value of the surface temperature rise were calculated for a triangular laser pulse shape in order to assess the influence of pyrolysis on laser enhanced diamond nucleation. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.