Nanodiamond seeding for nucleation and growth of CVD diamond films

Detonation nanodiamonds are shown to be effective seeds for growth of CVD diamond films as they provide high nucleation density on a substrate and can be placed on complex shape surfaces, for example into porous materials. XPS, AES and TEM analysis give useful information on the early stage of diamond growth. The transfer molding technique for manufacturing of various diamond shapes is described. As the nucleation side of free-standing films produced by the molding is the “working” surface, a special attention is paid to study its properties, such as topography, impurity contamination, thermal conductivity, wettability. Examples of diamond articles grown directly on patterned Si templates are given.