Deposition of thin films by CVD

Together with the production of thin films and heterostructures, the Synthesis units offers the opportunity of depositing thin films by the Chemical Vapour Deposition – CVD technique.
Since last decade or so ISM has enhanced a state-of-the-art knowhow for the formation and growth of carbon-based materials such as synthetic diamond, amorphous carbon, Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC), nanotubes and graphene, in the form of thin layers suitable for electronic, optical, mechanical, thermal and optoelectronic applications.
At the DiaTHEMA Lab at ISM Montelibretti branch, thin carbon-based layers are deposited using CVD such as the MicroWave-Enhanced (MW-CVD) and the Hot-Filament CVD (HF-CVD) together with the employment of gaseous mixtures of hydrogen, methane, argon and / or nitrogen.
Diamond layers, in particular, are the main topic research which regards their production and optimization in the form of polycrystalline or nanocrystalline deposits performed onto silicon substrate surfaces, as well as carbides and nitrides deposited either over large areas (heteroepitaxy) or monocrystalline onto HPHT (high pressure high temperature) diamond substrates or CVD synthetic ones.
With regard to MW-CVD technique it differs from HF-CVD one in the control of the process, which gives advantages for the growth of a material having a low concentration of defects and impurities which suitable for either electronic devices or for the detection of ionizing radiations. The advantage of the HF-CVD technique is, on the contrary, related to its ability in providing, over large areas, uniform deposition of diamond layers. The applications carbon-based layers obtained by CVD span from the coating of cutting tools to heat dissipation, from radiation detection to power electronics, from nuclear to solar energy conversion and from optoelectronics to quantum computers.

Microwave enhanced CVD Hot-filament CVD