Plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at 13.56 MHz has been used to produce diamond
particles in two different inductively coupled systems with a mixture of methane and hydrogen.
The effect of a diamondlike carbon (DLC) overcoating on silicon, niobium, and stainless-steel
substrates has been investigated and in the case of silicon has been found to enhance particle
formation as compared to uncoated polished silicon. In addition the use of carbon monoxide in
hydrogen has been found to produce well-defined individual faceted particles as well as
polycrystalline films on quartz and DLC coated silicon substrates. Plasma CVD is a competitive
approach to production of diamond films. It has the advantage over microwave systems of being
easily scaled to large volume and high power.