Boron doped nanostructured diamond films

A chemical vapor deposition hydrogen/methane/nitrogen feed-gas mixture with unconventionally high methane (15% CH4 by volume) normally used to grow ultra-hard and smooth nanostructured diamond films on Ti-6Al-4V alloy substrates was modified to include diborane B2H6 for boron-doping of diamond films. The flow rates for B2H 6 and N2 were varied to investigate their effect on plasma chemistry, film structure, boron incorporation, and mechanical properties. It was found that boron atoms can easily be incorporated into diamond films and change the lattice constant and film structure. Nitrogen, on the other hand, competes with boron in the plasma and acts to prevent boron incorporation into the diamond structure. In addition, with the appropriate choice of deposition conditions, the film structure can be tailored to range from highly crystalline, well faceted diamond to nanocrystalline diamond. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction and Micro-Raman were used as the main tools to investigate the relation between processing and structure. An optimal N2/CH4 ratio of 0.4 was found to result in a film with a minimum in grain size and surface roughness, along with high boron incorporation (∼4 x 1020 cm-3).; Mechanical properties and thermal stability of boron doped nanostructured diamond films were examined by means of nanoindentation, open air thermal annealing, and nanotribometry. It was found that the films have high hardness close to that of undoped nanostructured diamond films. Thermal stability of these films was evaluated by heating in an oxygen environment above 700°C. Improved thermal stability of boron doped nanostructured diamond films was observed. Tribological tests show that although both undoped and boron doped nanostructured diamond films show extremely low coefficient of friction and wear rate as compared with uncoated titanium alloys (Ti-6Al-4V) and cobalt chrome alloy (Co-Cr-Mo), a critical failure max stress of 2.2 GPa was observed for boron doped nanostructured diamond films.; A FORTRAN Chemical Kinetics Package for the Analysis of Gas Phase Chemical Kinetics, gas-phase thermodynamic equilibrium calculations involving H 2/CH4/N2/B2H6 mixtures was employed to investigate the chemical interactions leading to boron incorporation and crystalline structure variations. The strong influence of the BH 3 in causing the boron incorporation and the role of CN radical in causing the nanocrystallinity are confirmed by the correlation of their modeled compositions in the gas phase with boron content and degree of nanocrystallinity as determined experimentally. A good degree of agreement was obtained between the theoretically predicted gas phase concentration of species and the experimental concentration trends as measured by the optical emission spectroscopy of the microwave plasma.; Overall, high film hardness and toughness, combined with good thermal stability and low surface roughness, indicate that nanostructured boron doped diamond films can be used as wear resistant coatings that are able to withstand high temperature oxidizing environments.