Plasma etching for carbon materials by inward RF plasma apparatus

Diamond has high wear resistance and shape stability, and poly-crystalline chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond is difficult to mechanically process because of cleavage and wear anisotropy. On the other hand, diamond can be removed under an oxidising atmosphere with O-2 as the etching gas by reactive ion etching which is processing using plasma. In this study, the fabrication of an inward radio frequency (RF) plasma apparatus and the possibility of a removal process for carbon materials such as CVD diamond film and graphite plate by using it were investigated. OES, confocal laser scanning microscope and Raman spectroscopy were used for the evaluation of the etching. It was confirmed that the inward RF plasma apparatus fabricated could be applied to plasma etching for carbon materials. In addition, it was suggested that carbon materials were etched as CO with O-2 in the atmosphere, and amorphous structures were etched preferentially over crystalline ones.

Automated summary

This study investigated the fabrication of an inward RF plasma apparatus and its potential for removing carbon materials such as CVD diamond film and graphite plate. The results showed that the fabricated apparatus could be used for plasma etching of carbon materials, with the formation of CO deposits and preferential etching of amorphous structures.