Investigation of nucleation centres in diamond chemical vapour deposition with spatially resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

The nucleation of diamond films on silicon substrates deposited by hot filament chemical vapour deposition has been investigated for the first time with an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy microscope. The distribution of carbon, oxygen, silicon and tungsten on the surface was imaged with a spatial resolution of 10 μm. Significant differences were found between untreated areas of the substrates and scratches created by a diamond tip. Our data reveal that material from the tip abraded in the scratching process is not of key importance for nucleation.