In contrast to traditional grown CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) diamond with H2/CH4 gas mixtures, where the synthesized films consist of micron sized polycrystals, diamond grown from hydro-gen poor, mainly carbon containing argon plasmas consists of nanometer sized microstructure. This research objective is to develop a methodology to synthesize large area and smooth nanocrystalline dia-mond films. Films with a R.M.S. surface roughness of 10 - 45 nm, which were measured by AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy), were synthesized over 3" wafers under a wide range of different deposition conditions.

The surface profile examined by optical microscopy, AFM, and FESEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy) at different locations of the substrates indicated that nanocrystalline diamond was uniformly deposited over 3" silicon wafers. The nanocrystalline diamond films have a "featureless" mor-phology displayed by the adjacent SEM images. Very high heterogeneous renu-cleation rates resulted in small crystal sizes and the formation of smooth films. Inside each "boundary", there are many small diamond crystals with sizes ranging from 3 - 30 nm. Film nanocrystallinity and smoothness required high purity dep-osition conditions; i.e. impurities like nitrogen and oxygen degraded film qual-ity and uniformity. Characterization of the films was directed toward under-standing the properties of the deposited films versus the experimental deposition conditions.