A nano-crystalline diamond (NCD) film with a smooth surface was successfully deposited on silicon by a hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), RAMAN scattering spectra, as well as spectroscopic ellipsometry were employed to characterize the as-grown film. By fitting the spectroscopic ellipsometric data in the energy range of 0.75?1.50 eV with a three-layer model, Si|diamond+non-diamond|diamond+ non-diamond+void|air, the optical constants are obtained. The refractive index of the NCD film varies little from 2.361 to 2.366 and the extinction coefficient is of the order of 10?2. According to the optical transmittance and absorption coefficient in the wavelength range from 200 to 1 100 nm, the optical gap of the film is estimated to be 4.3 eV by a direct optical transition mechanics.
Free-standing diamond films were prepared by hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) method under different conditions. Inter-digital transducers (IDTs) were formed on the nucleation sides of free-standing diamond films by photolithography technique. Then piezoelectric ZnO films were deposited by radio-frequency(RF) reactive magnetron sputtering to obtain the ZnO/diamond film structures. Surface morphologies of the nucleation sides and the IDTs were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and optical microscopy. The results indicate that the surfaces of nucleation sides are very smooth and the IDTs are of high quality without discontinuity and short circuit phenomenon. Raman spectra show the sharp diamond feature peak at about 1 334 cm?1 and the small amount of non-diamond carbon in the nucleation side. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the structure of ZnO/diamond films show a strong diffraction peak of ZnO (002), which indicates that as-sputtered ZnO films are highly c-axis oriented.