CVD Nanocrystalline Diamond Film Doped with Eu

This paper submits experimental results of a study directed towards the formation of Eu ions' luminescent centers in CVD diamond films. A new approach is based on use of diamond nanoparticles with a surface modified with Eu ions for seeding at CVD growth. Nanocrystalline diamond films (NCD) doped with Eu have been grown from the gas phase on silicon substrates by microwave plasma-assisted CVD at a frequency of 2.45 GHz. The photoluminescence spectra clearly show several electronic transitions of the Eu³⁺ ions, which confirm the incorporation of Eu ions into the NCD film.