Thermal CVD of homoepitaxial diamond using CF 4 and F 2

For the first time, diamond has been grown using low-pressure thermal CVD. No additional excitation such as plasmas or filaments was used. The letter reports the homoepitaxial growth of diamond on type II-A diamond(100) via pyrolysis in a CF4/F2 gas mixture. The fluorine in the process is analogous to the atomic hydrogen in traditional plasma or filament assisted CVD processes in that it serves as an etchant to remove the nondiamond components from the depositing carbon film.