Modelling of Ar/H2/CH4 Microwave Discharges Used for Nanocrystalline Diamond Growth

Abstract

This work deals with the modelling of Ar/H-2/CH4 microwave discharges used for nanocrystalline diamond film deposition. Two thermochemical models are developed and used in order to estimate the discharge composition, the gas temperature and the average electron energy in the frame of a quasi-homogeneous plasma assumption. The first one takes into account the formation of hydrocarbons containing up to two carbon atoms, while in the second heavier aliphatic molecules and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons are considered along with soot particle nucleation.