The devel
opment
of diam
ond p
ower electr
onic devices based
on p-n juncti
ons str
ongly relies
on the ability t
o achieve efficient n-type d
oping which has s
o far been the limiting step. (111)-
oriented diam
ond films
offer the advantage
of a higher activity and inc
orp
orati
on
of d
opants. In this respect, gr
owing high-quality films by Plasma Assisted Chemical Vap
our Dep
ositi
on (PACVD)
on this
orientati
on is critical. Other applicati
ons such as th
ose based
on nitr
ogen-vacancy (NV) centres c
ould als
o benefit fr
om the availability
of high-quality (111)-
oriented substrates. Due t
o the preferential
orientati
on
of the NV b
ond al
ong the < 111 > directi
on, higher emissi
on intensity and easier alignment
of the magnetic field are expected. H
owever (111) CVD films are plagued by twinning and defects that are easily f
ormed
on this
orientati
on. G
ood quality (111) CVD films have been
obtained but
only f
or l
ow thicknesses (< 1 渭m) and at extremely l
ow gr
owth rates.
In this paper, diamond growth was carried out by high power PACVD on (111)-oriented high pressure high temperature substrates prepared from octahedral-shape crystals. It was found that under conditions of high temperature and low methane concentration, the growth rate in the < 100 > direction is almost completely inhibited which ensures that penetration twins cannot develop. In this case smooth films with a thickness over 100 渭m were successfully obtained at 6 渭m/h. Although the crystalline quality is still below that of conventional (100) CVD films, the growth of such thick (111) CVD films opens the way to their integration into electronics applications.