Etching a diamond body with a molten or partially molten metal

Abstract: A face of a diamond body (10, FIG. 1; 30, FIG. 2), such as a CVD diamond film, is etched by maintaining, for a prescribed time duration, at least a portion of the face in direct physical contact with a layer (11) comprising a molten or a partially molten metal or a metallic alloy of one or more than one rare earth metal, the layer having the property of dissolving carbon. While the body is being etched, various portions (31, 32, 33) of a major surface of the body can be protected for various time durations by masks against the etching--whereby, after dicing the body, each of the resulting dies can be used, for example, as a submount (30) for a laser (40) and a photodetector (61)--the latter for the purpose of feedback to the laser.

Description: Background of the Invention This invention relates to methods of etching, and more particularly to methods of removing material from a diamond body. A diamond body, including a free-standing (stand-alone) CVD (chemical vapor deposited) diamond film, is useful in a variety of contexts, such as a heat-spreading submount for a semiconductor laser chip or a semiconductor integrated circuit chip. Presently available free-standing CVD films typically exhibit an undesirably relatively rough (large grain) top surface and a relatively smooth (small grain) but undesirably relatively low thermal conductivity bottom surface. The thermal conductivity thus has a gradient going from the top to the bottom surface. As described in a paper by J. E. Graebner et al., published in Applied Physics Letters , Vol. 60, pp. 1576-1578 (March 30, 1992), entitled "Unusually High Thermal Conductivity in Diamond Films," this gradient is believed to be attributable to a cone-shaped columnar crystal structure of the film, the cones having their vertices located at or near the bottom surface of the film at its interface with an underlying substrate on which the film has been grown. Those of the columnar cones that extend all the way to the top surface of the film have less sub-structure than those that do not. This type of microstructure causes an undesirably low average transverse (spreading) thermal conductivity of the diamond film at its bottom regions, as well as poor thermal contact with, for example, a laser chip located on the rough top surface of the diamond film. Likewise, there can arise a problem of poor thermal contact of the rough bottom surface of the diamond film with a metallic or ceramic heatsinking mount. Thus, removal of a thickness of diamond material from its top and bottom surfaces is desirable. The paper "Massive thinning of diamond films by a diffusion process," authored by S. Jin et al, and published in Applied Physics Letters , Vol. 60, pp. 1948-1950 (20 April 1992) teaches a technique for removing diamond material simultaneously from top and bottom regions of a free-standing CVD diamond film, in order to smoothen the top surface and at the same time to remove undesirably low thermal conductivity material located at the bottom surface. In accordance with that technique, the free-standing diamond film is sandwiched between a pair of thin iron sheets (foils) and heat treated at 900°C under a constant stress for a time duration of 48 hours in an argon gas atmosphere. Although the technique is useful for its intended purpose, namely, thinning the CVD diamond film by approximately 100 µm (50 µm on each main face), a shorter time duration would be desirable, especially from an economic standpoint. Furthermore, the required application of high pressure (typically approximately 20MPa for the case of etching with iron), to ensure good contact between the solid metal and diamond surfaces during heat treatment, is not desirable from an industrial point of view. Therefore, a faster and lower-pressure method of removing (diamond) material from a face of diamond body is desirable, at little or no sacrifice of surface smoothness (if not gain in surface smoothness). Summary of the Invention In accordance with the invention, we provide a method as set forth in claim 1. Preferred methods are as set forth in claims 2 and 3. Brief Description of the Drawing(s) FIG. 1 is an elevational view in cross section of a diamond film being etched in accordance with a specific embodiment of the invention; and FIG. 2 is an elevational view in cross section of a shaped diamond die that has been cut from a diamond film, together with a laser and a photodetector mounted on the shaped die, in accordance with another specific embodiment of the invention. Only for the sake of clarity none of the drawings is to any scale. Detailed Description A free-standing CVD diamond film 10 (FIG. 1) whose top and bottom surfaces are to be etched, is sandwiched between a pair of flat metallic layers 11 and 21. Advantageously, the metallic layers 11 and 21 are both made of the same rare earth metal, such as cerium or lanthanum. The sandwich is located between a pair of flat chemically or nonreactive buffer layers 12 and 22--for example, molybdenum--and a pair of flat plates 13 and 23--for example, alumina. Typically each of the buffer layers 12 and 22 has a thickness of approximately 20µm; and typically each of the flat plates 13 and 23 has a thickness of approximately 500µm. The purpose of the buffer layers 12 and 22 is to prevent reaction of rare earth or other metal with the alumina, especially at the elevated temperatures to be used for melting or partially melting the metallic layers 11 and 21. The purpose of the flat plates 13 and 23 is to supply rigid mechanical support. The assembly 100 is subjected to a relatively small compressive forces F, to produce a pressure p of typically less than approximately 0.2 MPa, preferably less than approximately 0.02 MPa, and in any event sufficient to produce a mechanically stable assembly and to promote uniformly good wetting of the top and bottom surfaces of the diamond film 10 when the metallic layers 11 and 21 are heated to an elevated temperature T and thereby become molten or at least partially molten. At this elevated temperature T, the molten metal wets the diamond surface and begins to react with it, and thus further application of the pressure p is not necessary but optionally the pressure p can continue to be applied. Thereby carbon is dissolved from both top and bottom faces of the diamond film 10. Hence the thickness of the film 10 is reduced when the assembly 100 is heated to the elevated temperature T; i.e., the film is etched by heating it to the elevated temperature T, as is desired. The body 10 can be thinned at only its bottom surface, by omitting the layers 21, 22, and 23, and applying forces F directly to its top surface. Example 1 The CVD diamond film 10 had a thickness of approximately 240 µm prior to the etching, and a top and (rectangular) surface area of approximately 1.0 cm x 0.5 cm = 0.5 cm 2 . The metallic layers 11 and 21 were both lanthanum having an initial thickness of approximately 300 µm. The forces F were adjusted to produce a pressure p of approximately 0.008 MPa. The assembly 100 was heated in an argon atmosphere in a furnace (not shown) to an elevated temperature T that was approximately equal to 920°C. The furnace, with the assembly inside, was maintained at this temperature T for (an etching time duration of) approximately 4 hours, and then the furnace was cooled to room temperature. The diamond film 10, with reacted lanthanum on its top and bottom surfaces, was then wet etched in warm nitric acid, typically approximately 50 molar percentum nitric acid at a temperature in the approximate range of 50°C to 60°C, typically for 0.5 hour, in order to remove any residual lanthanum in the film 10. The diamond film 10 was then washed and dried. As a result of the foregoing procedure, the final thickness of the diamond film 10 became equal to approximately 195 µm, that is, a thickness reduction that was approximately equal to (240 µm - 195 µm) = 45 µm. At the same time, surface roughness of the top surface of the film 10 was significantly reduced, and there was essentially no loss of thermal conductivity. Example 2 Instead of lanthanum, cerium was used as the rare earth metal for the metallic layers 11 and 21, and these layers had an (initial) thickness of approximately 250 µm each. The furnace was maintained at the elevated temperature of approximately T=920°C for (an etching time duration of) approximately 16 hours. All other parameters were the same as recited in Example 1 above. In this way, the thickness reduction was approximately equal to 60 µm. Again the top surface roughness was significantly reduced, and thermal conductivity remained essentially unchanged. Example 3 The CVD diamond film 10 had a thickness of approximately 250 µm prior to the etching. The metallic alloy layer 11 was an alloy of essentially pure cerium and 11.2 weight percent nickel--an alloy which had a melting point of approximately 480°C, i.e., approximately 300 C degrees below that of pure cerium. The initial thickness of the alloy layer 11 was approximately 1 mm. The set of compressive forces F was adjusted to produce a pressure p of approximately 10 KPa (=0.01 MPa). The assembly 100 was heated in an argon atmosphere in a furnace (not shown) to an elevated temperature T that was equal to approximately 690°C. The furnace, with the assembly inside, was maintained at this temperature T for (an etching time duration of) approximately 36 hours, and then the furnace was cooled to room temperature. The diamond film 10, with reacted metal on its top surface, was then wet etched in warm nitric acid, typically approximately 50 molar percentum nitric acid at a temperature in the approximate range of 50°C to 60°C, typically for approximately 0.5 hour, in order to remove any residual cerium or nickel in the film 10. The diamond film 10 was then washed and dried. As a result of the foregoing procedure, the final thickness of the diamond film 10 became equal to approximately 195 µm; that is, the film 10 underwent a thickness reduction that was equal to approximately (250 µm - 195 µm) = 55 µm. At the same time, surface roughness of the top surface of the diamond film 10 was significantly reduced. Example 4 The furnace was maintained at an elevated temperature of approximately T=590°C for (an etching time duration of) approximately 36 hours. All other parameters and procedures were the same as recited in Example 1 above. In this way, the thickness reduction was equal to approximately 18 µm. Again the top surface roughness was significantly reduced. Example 5 The furnace was maintained at an elevated temperature of 590°C for (an etching time duration of) approximately 77 hours. All other parameters and procedures were the same as recited in Example 1 above. In this way, the thickness reduction was equal to approximately 40 µm. Again, the top surface roughness was significantly reduced. By way of comparison and control, an experiment was performed in which the metallic layer 11 was essentially pure cerium (with essentially no added metallic impurity), and the furnace was maintained at the same temperature as in Example 1--viz., approximately 690°C--for the same time duration--viz., approximately 36 hours. There was no measurable reduction in the thickness of the diamond film, as the processing temperature (approximately 690°C) was well below the melting point of pure cerium (approximately 798°C). The roughness of the top surface of the film was the same after the processing (using cerium at 690°C for 36 hours) as it was before the processing. Referring now to FIG. 2, a laser device assembly 200 contains a laser device 40, as well as a photodetector device 61 for supplying feedback to the laser device. Electrical wiring (not shown) and details of the devices (not shown) can be standard in the art. The photodetector device 61 is mounted on a photodetector substrate 60 which is attached to a slanting sidewall 34 of a shaped CVD diamond die 30. This shaped diamond die 30 serves as a submount for the laser device 40. The laser device 40 is attached to an intermediately high, horizontal subface 31 of the shaped diamond die 30. During laser operation, this laser device 40 emits through its frontside edge 41 a frontside beam 51, and through its backside edge 42 a backside beam 52. The photodetector device 61 is aligned so that its photodetecting surface is completely bathed in the backside beam 52. The right-hand edge surface 36 of the die 30 typically is bonded to a standard, thermally conducting metallic header (not shown), in order to conduct heat away from the assembly 200 during operation of the laser device 40. In order to fabricate the shaped CVD diamond die 30, a CVD diamond film (not shown) with parallel top and bottom faces is masked with a protective layer everywhere except at areas overlying a lowest subface 33 and is subjected to the above-described etching for a prescribed time duration. The term "top face" here refers to the "growth" face, i.e., the face that was exposed when the diamond film was originally grown on a substrate. The protective layer for the masking can be a high-melting-point refractory metal such as molybdenum, tantalum, or tungsten, or any other metal that does not react either with the diamond or with the molten (or partially molten) metal. Then the remaining diamond film is unmasked at areas overlying intermediately high subface 31 and is subjected to further such etching for another prescribed time duration. Finally the remaining film is unmasked everywhere and is optionally subjected to still further such etching in order to remove (diamond) material from all bottom and top surfaces of the film. In this way, the shaped die 30 is formed, with the sidewall surface 34 running between a highest subface 32 and a lowest subface 33, and with another sidewall surface 35 running between the lowest subface 33 and the intermediately high subface 41. The laser device 40 and the photodetector device 61 can then be bonded into place as shown in FIG. 2. Advantageously, a metallic heat-sinking body (not shown) is bonded to the shaped die 30, preferably to the right-hand edge surface 36, or to the bottom surface (or to both of these surfaces), of the shaped die 30. It should be understood that many similar if not identical shaped dies like the shaped die 30 can be made simultaneously from a two-dimensional array that was originally formed in a single original (large surface area) diamond film having an area that is sufficiently large to accommodate them. After patterning this film, its (many) intermediately high subfaces 31 and its (many) sidewall surfaces 34 can all be simultaneously metallized for subsequent bonding of the (many) laser devices 40 and the (many) photodetector substrates 60. Advantageously, for electrical isolation purposes this metallizing can be performed by means of a sputtering beam directed along a fourth quadrant angle in the XY plane, in order to avoid deposition on the sidewall surfaces 35 and the lowest subfaces 33--by utilizing shadow effects. Thereafter, the thus metallized original film can be cut along its edge surfaces 36 as by laser dicing, into stripes. Next, the resulting edge surface 36 can be metallized for bonding to the metallic header (not shown). Thereafter, the stripes can be further cut along planes parallel to the XY plane, in order to arrive at the desired size of individual pieces, each of which can be used as the shaped diamond die 30. Although the invention has been described in detail with respect to specific embodiments, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, when using lanthanum (Example 1) for the metallic layers 11 and 21, the elevated temperature T can be in the approximate range of 800°C to 1300°C. The lower limit of approximately 800°C is chosen as it is the partial melting temperature of lanthanum when some carbon is dissolved in it. The upper temperature of approximately 1300°C is chosen for the sake of convenience in industrial heat treatment processing. The use of still higher processing temperatures under specific conditions is not excluded. Within the approximate range of 800°C to 1300°C, higher processing temperatures provide increased solubility of carbon in lanthanum as well as enhanced kinetics and hence shorter processing time durations. When using cerium (Example 2) for the metallic layers 11 and 21, the elevated temperature T can be in the approximate range of 700°C to 1300°C, the melting temperature of cerium being approximately 798°C, that is, approximately 98 C higher than the lower limit of approximately 700°C, which is the partial melting temperature of the cerium when some carbon is dissolved in it. Instead of using argon, other inert or reducing atmospheres, such as helium or hydrogen, can be used. Alternatively, a mixture of hydrogen and methane (CH 4 ) can be used. Also, other pure rare earth metals can be used, such as yttrium. Furthermore, the rate of dissolution of the diamond film can be controlled to a more nearly constant rate, by continuous removal of the dissolved carbon as volatile methane, by means of permeating or bubbling hydrogen through the molten rare earth while the film is suspended or otherwise immersed in the molten rare earth metal in a container under a prescribed pressure. The substrate (not shown) on which the diamond film was originally grown can remain intact or partly intact on the bottom surface of the film, if needed. When using a metallic impurity (Examples 3, 4, and 5), instead of cerium other rare earth metals can be used, such as La, Yb, Pr, or Eu. In the case of lanthanum as the sole rare earth, it is advantageous that the temperature range have a lower limit of approximately 400°C and an upper limit of approximately 1,000°C, preferably a lower limit of approximately 450°C and an upper limit of approximately 800°C. Also, instead of nickel as the metallic impurity, other metallic impurities (or combinations thereof) that lower the melting point of rare earth metals can be used. One or more than one rare earth metal can be used in the alloy mixture, in combination with one or more than one metallic impurity--the quantitative composition depending on the desired melting point, desired corrosion resistance, and other desired physical characteristic (if any). The alloy mixture can be provided in the form of sheets, blocks, or powders. Alternatively, flood-deposited or spatially-selectively-deposited alloys can be used respectively for entire-surface-etching (thinning) or for spatially-selective-surface-etching (localized patterning; local thinning) of the diamond body. Such depositions can be performed by means of physical deposition (e.g., sputtering or evaporation) or by means of chemical deposition (e.g., electroplating or electroless plating). More than one diamond body can be simultaneously etched by using either a molten bath of the metal or by a configuration of sandwiched layers of molten or partially molten metal between stacked films of diamond. Desirable etching time durations can be in the approximate range of 0.01 to 1000 hours, preferably 0.1 to 100 hours, depending on the elevated temperature T and the desired amount of reduction in thickness of the diamond film. After the etching has been completed and the diamond film has been taken out of the furnace, any residual unreacted or reacted metal can be removed by chemical etching or mechanical polishing. The etched diamond surface can be given additional finishing processing steps, such as local-area or entire-area mechanical or laser polishing, to achieve smoother surfaces or to impart fine geometrical patterns. Instead of a laser device, a semiconductor integrated circuit device can be mounted on the etched and polished diamond film serving as a submount, with the diamond film being bonded to the metallic heat-sinking body. In such a case the etching of the diamond film need not be patterned; that is, the entire top face of the film can be planar. Instead of thinning only a single diamond body at a time, more than just one such body can be simultaneously maintained in contact with sandwiched layers or a bath formed by the molten or partially molten metal, whereby batch processing can be achieved. The technique of this invention can also be used in conjunction with either single crystalline or polycrystalline diamond bodies or pieces, natural or synthetic, for the purpose of shaping or patterning them.

Claims: A method for removing a thickness of diamond from a diamond body (10, Fig. 1; 30, Fig. 2) having at least one face, by means of maintaining, for a prescribed duration of time, at least a portion of the face in direct physical contact with a layer (11) other than diamond, said layer having the property of dissolving carbon and being at a prescribed temperature range above a lower temperature limit. said lower temperature limit being higher than the partial melting temperature of the layer (11) containing carbon dissolved in it, thereby removing a thickness of the body (10,30) located at a portion of the face thereof, characterized in that said layer (11) is a molten metal of a rare earth metal or a partially molten metallic alloy of one or more than one rare earth metal. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein during the prescribed time duration a first portion of the face of the body is masked by a protective layer for a first prescribed time duration and a second portion of the face of the body remains masked by said protective layer that does not react either the diamond or with the molten or partially molten metal or metallic alloy and does not dissolve in it for a second prescribed time duration, the first and second portions of the face being spaced apart, whereby first, second, and third subfaces (31,33,32) are formed with a first sidewall surface (35) located contiguous with the first and third subfaces, and with a second sidewall surface (34) located contiguous with the second and third subfaces, and further including the steps of removing the protective layer, attaching a first device (40) to the first subface (31) and attaching a second device (60,61) to the second sidewall surface (34). A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which the rare earth metal is cerium or lanthanum.

Inventors: DAUTREMONT-SMITH WILLIAM CROSS, GRAEBNER JOHN EDWIN, JIN SUNGHO, KATZ AVISHAY, DAUTREMONT-SMITH, WILLIAM CROSSLEY, GRAEBNER, JOHN EDWIN, JIN, SUNGHO, KATZ, AVISHAY
Applicants: AT & T CORP, AT&T CORP.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: H01L21
IPC codes: C04B41, C30B33, H01L21, H01S5, C30B29