U.S. develops low-temperature diamond coating for electronic devices

Experts from the American Advanced Diamond Technology Company have developed a new method to coat electronic devices with a diamond film at a lower temperature, so that more electronic devices will wear super-high-quality diamond 'coats' in the future. A related paper was published in Applied Physics Letters, a journal of the American Physical Society (AIP). Diamond is of particular value in industrial and high-tech installations due to its outstanding properties in terms of hardness, optical clarity, finish, chemical stability, radiation and electric fields. When researchers use diamond in electronic devices, the semiconducting boron is introduced into the diamond manufacturing process and 'doped' to make it conductive. However, in the past, the use of doped diamond coatings or films to impart diamond-like qualities to electronic devices has been challenging because doped diamond coatings require high temperatures for application, and biosensors, semiconductors, photonics and optical devices, etc. High-sensitivity electronic equipment will be destroyed when exposed to high temperatures. In the paper, Illinois Advanced Diamond Technology reported that they had created a boron-doped diamond film that could coat many electronic devices with diamond 'coats' at low temperatures (460°C to 600°C). The concept of low temperature deposition of boron-doped diamond films is not new. However, in practical applications, diamond films with good quality and rapid production for commercial use have not yet been found. By lowering the temperature and adjusting the ratio of methane and hydrogen in the usual process, the research team changed the normal temperature required for boron doping, and also produced high-quality films that were not as conductive or smooth as diamond films produced at high temperatures. the difference. The researchers say they need more data to further study to better grasp the low temperature environment. Using a further optimized method, it is expected to deposit boron-doped diamond films at temperatures below 400 °C. 'The lower the deposition temperature, the more electronic devices it can be applied to,' said Zeng Hongjun of Advanced Diamond Technology. 'It will further broaden the production types of diamond coatings in terms of thickness, finish, and conductivity.'