Patent ID: 9034200
Filing Date: 2015-05-19
Classification: C01B,C23C,C30B,G01N,H01J,H01L,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of producing an etched diamond surface including the steps of mechanically processing a diamond surface to have a roughness R subjecting the mechanically processed diamond surface to plasma etching to remove at least 2 nm of material from the mechanically processed diamond surface thereby removing the damaged zone from the mechanically processed diamond surface and producing a plasma etched surface which has a number of defects, as revealed by a revealing plasma etch, of less than 100 per mm wherein the plasma etching involves exposing the mechanically processed diamond surface to an inductively-coupled plasma etch; wherein the roughness R wherein the step of plasma etching the original surface utilizes a gas mixture consisting of inert gas and molecular chlorine (Cl wherein the inductively-coupled plasma etch removes material from the mechanically processed diamond surface by chemical surface reactions rather than physical sputtering as in a reactive ion etching process in which ions are accelerated towards a target surface to physically remove material therefrom.