CVD diamond deposition on steel using arc-plated chromium nitride interlayers
J. G. Buijnsters, P. Shankar, W. Fleischer, W. J. P. van Enckevort, J. J. Schermer and J. J. ter Meulen
Diamond and Related Materials Volume 11, Issues 3-6, March-June 2002, Pages 536-544
 
Abstract
This paper reports on hot filament CVD diamond deposition onto steel using arc-plated chromium nitride (CrN) as the interlayer. Direct deposition of diamond onto steel leads to the formation of a non-adhering layer of graphitic soot covered by poor-quality diamond. However, if arc-plated CrN coatings with a thickness of 2.5 m are used, diamond formation takes place. Adherent and good-quality diamond coatings are obtained after several hours of deposition at a substrate temperature as low as 650 °C. Micro-Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and EDAX analysis have been employed to study the phases, morphology, composition, quality and residual stresses of the grown diamond layers and the modified substrate interlayers. The Scotch tape test is used to assess the adhesion of the diamond coatings.