Patent Number: 051464810
Section: claims

1. A substantially compressive stress free, pin-holes and defects free, continuous polycrystalline diamond thin membrane for X-ray lithography; said polycrystalline diamond membrane being substantially optically and X-ray transparent and having a substantially uniform thickness generally in the range of approximately 0.5 .mu.m to 4.0 .mu.m.  a substantially compressive stress-free, pin-holes and defects free, continuous polycrystalline diamond thin membrane;  said polycrystalline diamond membrane being substantially optically and X-ray transparent and having a substantially uniform thickness;  a substantially X-ray absorbing pattern supported by said membrane; and  a substrate supporting said membrane.  preparing the surface of a supporting substrate comprising a material selected from the group consisting of silicon, polysilicon, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, boron carbide, boron nitride, alumina, titanium carbide, titanium nitride, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum and mixtures thereof by treating said substrate surface with a slurry of diamond particles and a volatile solvent placed in an ultrasonic bath for a predetermined period of time;  placing said substrate into a hot filament chemical vapor deposition reactor chamber;  pre-heating said substrate by electrically charging the pre-carburized filament network of said reactor to a temperature in the range of about 400.degree. C. to 650.degree. C. in the presence of an inert gas;  maintaining said pre-heating temperature for a predetermined period of time;  heating said substrate to a temperature in the range of approximately 650.degree. C.-700.degree. C. in the presence of a gaseous mixture of flowing hydrogen and carbon compounds;  chemically vapor depositing a substantially optically and X-ray transparent, adherent and coherent polycrystalline diamond membrane having a substantially uniform thickness onto said substrate;  cooling said substrate by extinguishing said deposition process and passing an inert gas over said substrate until the temperature of said substrate has reached substantially room temperature during said cooldown step;  removing said substrate coated with a substantially compressive stress free polycrystalline diamond X-ray membrane from said reactor;  applying an etch resistant mask to the back surface of the said substrate to define one or more openings;  etching said back surface of said substrate by preferential chemical etchant; and  recovering said compressive stress free, pin-holes and defects free, continuous polycrystalline diamond membrane supported by a substrate frame. 2. A X-ray lithography mask comprising: 3. The X-ray mask of claim 2 wherein the thickness of said polycrystalline diamond membrane is generally in the range of approximately 0.5 .mu.m to 4.0 .mu.m. 4. The X-ray mask of claim 2 wherein said polycrystalline diamond membrane has a diameter/thickness aspect ratio greater than 1,000. 5. The X-ray mask of claim 2 wherein said polycrystalline diamond membrane generally exhibits a tensile stress. 6. The X-ray mask of claim 2 wherein said polycrystalline diamond membrane generally exhibits a substantially wrinkle-free surface topography. 7. The X-ray mask of claim 2 wherein said substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of silicon, polysilicon, silicon carbide, silicon oxynitride, silicon nitride, boron carbide, boron nitride, alumina, titanium carbide, titanium nitride, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum and mixtures thereof. 8. The X-ray mask of claim 2 wherein said X-ray absorbing pattern comprises a material selected from the group consisting of gold, nickel, tungsten, titanium, and tantalum or combination thereof. 9. A method for producing a substantially compressive stress free, pin-holes and defects free, continuous polycrystalline diamond X-ray membrane comprising: 10. The method of claim 9 wherein said diamond particles comprise 20 .mu.m to 100 .mu.m diamond powder. 11. The method of claim 9 wherein said diamond particles comprise 30 .mu.m to 35 .mu.m diamond powder. 12. The method of claim 9 wherein the distance between said substrate and said filament network is generally in the range of approximately 11 mm to 20 mm. 13. The method of claim 9 wherein the distance between said substrate and said filament network is generally in the range of approximately Il mm to 15 mm. 14. The method of claim 9 wherein the distance between said substrate and said filament network is generally in the range of approximately 11 mm to 15 mm. 15. The method of claim 9 wherein the flow rate of said inert gas during said pre-heating step is generally in the range of approximately 50 sccm-500 sccm for approximately 10 min. to 120 min. 16. The method of claim 9 wherein said carbon compound is selected from the group consisting of C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 saturated hydrocarbons, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 unsaturated hydrocarbons, gases containing C and O, aromatic compounds and organic compounds containing C, H, and at least one of O and/or N. 17. The method of claim 9 wherein said carbon compound is methane. 18. The method of claim 13 wherein the concentration of said carbon compound in said gaseous mixture is generally in the range of approximately 0.2% to 5.0%. 19. The method of claim 13 wherein the concentration of said carbon compound in said gaseous mixture is generally in the range of approximately 0.5% to 2.0%. 20. The method of claim 9 wherein said flow rate of said gaseous mixture during said chemical vapor deposition step is generally in the range of approximately 10 sccm to 605 sccm. 21. The method of claim 9 wherein the operating pressure of said reactor during said chemical vapor deposition step is generally in the range of approximately 10 Torr. to 100 Torr. 22. The method of claim 9 wherein said substrate is rotated at approximately 1 to 10 revolutions/hour during said pre-heating and said chemical vapor deposition steps. 23. The method of claim 9 wherein the deposition rate for said polycrystalline diamond membrane is generally in the range of approximately 0.05-0.5 microns/hour. 24. The method of claim 9 wherein said chemical vapor deposition time is generally in the range of approximately 5-80 hours. 25. The method of claim 9 wherein the thickness of said polycrystalline diamond membrane is generally in the range of approximately 0.5 .mu.m-4 .mu.m. 26. The method of claim 9 wherein said polycrystalline diamond membrane has a diameter/thickness aspect ratio greater than 100. 27. The method of claim 9 wherein said polycrystalline diamond membrane generally exhibits a tensile stress. 28. The method of claim 9 wherein said polycrystalline diamond membrane generally exhibits a substantially wrinkle-free surface topography. 29. The X-ray mask of claim 8 wherein the absorbing pattern is deposited by physical vapor or chemical vapor deposition techniques. 30. The polycrystalline diamond thin membrane of claim 1 wherein said membrane has a diameter/thickness ratio greater than 1,000. 31. The polycrystalline diamond thin membrane of claim 1 wherein said membrane exhibits a substantially wrinkle-free surface topography.