Surface smoothing of diamond membranes by reactive ion etching process

This paper describes a procedure based on reactive ion etching developed to reduce the surface roughness of CVD diamond thin films. The technique involves etching a bilayer made up of diamond and a planarizing SiO 2 layer in an SF 6O 2 plasma mixture. Etching conditions have been determined which y...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDiamond and related materials Vol. 5; no. 6; pp. 840 - 844
Main Authors Vivensang, C., Ferlazzo-Manin, L., Ravet, M.F., Turban, G., Rousseaux, F., Gicquel, A.
Format Journal Article Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.05.1996
Elsevier
Subjects
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology
Diamond
Exact sciences and technology
Materials science
Membrane
Physics
Planarization
Polishing
Reactive ion etching
Solid surfaces and solid-solid interfaces
Surface cleaning, etching, patterning
Surface structure and topography
Surface treatments
Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
Membrane
Planarization
Reactive ion etching
Diamond
Membranes
Synthetic mineral
Ion polishing
Diamonds
Roughness
Operating mode
Surfaces
Surface treatments
Experimental study
Characterization
Thin films
Optical transmission
Silicon oxides
Nonmetals
Bilayers
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Summary:This paper describes a procedure based on reactive ion etching developed to reduce the surface roughness of CVD diamond thin films. The technique involves etching a bilayer made up of diamond and a planarizing SiO 2 layer in an SF 6O 2 plasma mixture. Etching conditions have been determined which yield equal rates for both diamond and the SiO 2 coverlayer and favour the removal of diamond peaks. Smoothed surfaces have been characterized by SEM, AFM and XPS: the results exhibit a significant decrease in roughness. This novel technique offers promising prospects for polishing thin diamond membranes for X-ray lithography applications without the removal of significant amounts of diamond material. The optical transmittance of diamond membranes, mainly affected by light scattering due to surface roughness, is significantly improved using this method of planarization.
ISSN:0925-9635
1879-0062
DOI:10.1016/0925-9635(95)00368-1