Abstract: A method for testing an interfacial tribochemical reaction between a diamond wafer and active metal abrasive or metal oxide abrasive is provided. A surface of a diamond indenter used in a nano scratch tester is coated with a layer of the active metal abrasive or the metal oxide abrasive with uniform and controllable thickness by magnetron sputtering, and an interface interaction between the layer of the active metal abrasive or the metal oxide abrasive and the diamond wafer is controlled by a scratch test of the diamond wafer. Chemical components of an interaction section on a surface of the diamond wafer are analyzed by the scanning probe micro Raman spectrometer.

Abstract: A method of fabricating device quality, thin-film a-Si:H for use as semiconductor material in photovoltaic and other devices, comprising in any order; positioning a substrate in a vacuum chamber adjacent a plurality of heatable filaments with a spacing distance L between the substrate and the filaments; heating the filaments to a temperature that is high enough to obtain complete decomposition of silicohydride molecules that impinge said filaments into Si and H atomic species; providing a flow of silicohydride gas, or a mixture of silicohydride gas containing Si and H, in said vacuum chamber while maintaining a pressure P of said gas in said chamber, which, in combination with said spacing distance L, provides a P×L product in a range of 10-300 mT-cm to ensure that most of the Si atomic species react with silicohydride molecules in the gas before reaching the substrate, to thereby grow a a-Si:H film at a rate of at least 50 Å/sec.