Growth and properties of nanocrystalline diamond films

The aim of this paper is to summarise recent progress in the growth of small grain-sized Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond often called nanocrystalline diamond, i.e., diamond with grains typically smaller than 500 nm. Nanocrystalline (NCD) and Ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films are new materials offering interesting applications to nanobioelectronics and electrochemistry. However NCD and UNCD thin films comprise of entirely different structures which is highlighted here in this paper. We discuss in detail the main differences in Raman spectra, optical properties and electrical transport properties. Finally we present a simple model of the conductivity mechanism in nitrogenated UNCD (N-UNCD) and boron doped NCD (B-NCD) films, and show the possibility of achieving the superconductive transition in B-NCD films. (c) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.