Periodic Reporting for period 1 - smartGROW (3D diamond growth)
Período documentado: 2023-01-01 hasta 2025-06-30
Diamond, due its outstanding properties, is a desired material on various objects for medical, bioelectronics, optical, aerospace, marine and other applications. However, achieving uniform coatings on complex-shaped 3D objects is still a not overcome challenge due to 2D nature of current deposition techniques and the complexity which comes with coating non-planar geometries. The main objective of this project is to develop a new 3D diamond growth technology to circumvent limitations of the state-of-the-art growth techniques. For the first time it is expected to be possible to synthesize diamond on complex-shaped 3D objects at low temperatures. This will accelerate the widespread use of diamond-based materials in research and industry, and kick-start new applications of diamond on temperature sensitive materials. This ambitious goal is pursued by exploiting unique properties of metamaterials and fractal apertures to excite plasma in 3D combined with the new pathways of diamond gas phase nucleation.
The challenge of diamond growth in 3D in smartGROW is addressed by exploiting the unique properties of metamaterials and fractals to achieve uniform plasma excitation in 3D and by using novel protonuclei-enhanced gas phase diamond nucleation pathways to overcome the nucleation barrier. To achieve the main goal of the project two novel theoretical models have been developed to study fractal apertures coupled to a composite right/left-handed (CRLH) materials-based waveguide. Simulations performed using these models have shown that fractal excitation layouts outperform state-of-the-art solutions and yield more uniform plasma distributions. Based on simulations results the test surface wave plasma chemical vapour deposition (SWP CVD) system has been designed and built. It has been used to successfully demonstrate diamond synthesis using fractal excitation apertures coupled to the CRLH waveguide and to deposit diamond films at 250 °C. It was found that input gas flow rate has a big effect on the transport of charged species in the bulk of SWP and that it correlates with deposited diamond film thickness profiles. Furthermore, a new method to deliver a molecular beam of diamondoids into the CVD chamber has been developed. It uses thermally controlled vapour pressure inside a dedicated chamber with a nozzle to inject diamondoids. We confirmed the presence of diamondoids beam inside the CVD chamber by monitoring pressure changes.
The new diamond growth technology developed in the smartGROW project is expected to impact a wide range of and new research fields and industrial applications. A good example is medical implants, where to date, use of diamond-based coatings has been primarily limited to implants with sizes not larger than few cm, like dental, neural and retinal. As a result, diamond coatings for orthopaedic and larger in size implants have been mainly restricted to in vitro testing. Therefore, technology developed in smartGROW could finally be a breakthrough in the field allowing truly 3D synthesis of diamond for medical implants and devices like spinal, knee, and hip implants, which all have complex 3D shapes. Diamond coatings would yield better implant-body integration and would increase the lifetime of the implants, thus reducing the likelihood of failure. Widespread use of diamond coatings on medical implants would improve long-term outcomes for thousands of patients and would significantly reduce high costs due to failures and revision surgeries.
Since smartGROW is expected to allow diamond synthesis at low temperatures (100 °C - 400 °C), it is expected that other researchers could start new investigations of diamond applications on temperature sensitive materials. For instance, flexible electronics is an exponentially growing research field where diamond is highly desirable material. The smartGROW could be used to synthesize diamond on flexible polymers and used to perform functions like sensing bioelectrical signals, measuring pH levels and gas concentrations. Furthermore, apart from the above listed applications, smartGROW technology could be used for diamond synthesis on optical and mechanical components for aerospace and marine industries. Aerospace and marine environments are ones of the most challenging engineering environments requiring components from wear resistant and high-performance materials. The smartGROW could be used to deposit diamond on rotating and sliding elements with complex shapes significantly enhancing performance and lifetime of these components.
Since smartGROW is expected to allow diamond synthesis at low temperatures (100 °C - 400 °C), it is expected that other researchers could start new investigations of diamond applications on temperature sensitive materials. For instance, flexible electronics is an exponentially growing research field where diamond is highly desirable material. The smartGROW could be used to synthesize diamond on flexible polymers and used to perform functions like sensing bioelectrical signals, measuring pH levels and gas concentrations. Furthermore, apart from the above listed applications, smartGROW technology could be used for diamond synthesis on optical and mechanical components for aerospace and marine industries. Aerospace and marine environments are ones of the most challenging engineering environments requiring components from wear resistant and high-performance materials. The smartGROW could be used to deposit diamond on rotating and sliding elements with complex shapes significantly enhancing performance and lifetime of these components.