Using ion channeling measurements in conjunction with the resonant 1H(15N,αγ)12C nuclear reaction or with proton Rutherford backscattering spectrometry we studied the incorporation of hydrogen from the plasma into homoepitaxial (100) and (111) CVD diamond films. The measured hydrogen concentration and the structural defect density of the diamond lattice derived from proton channeling yields were observed to be correlated. Hydrogen lattice location studies for different incident ion channeling directions showed no dominant fraction of H occupying either one of the two theoretically predicted sites. These results suggest that in CVD films with quite high dislocation densities and relative H concentrations above 10−3, hydrogen is predominantly incorporated at structural defect sites uncorrelated with the lattice symmetry.

Diamond substrates were deeply implanted by 4.5 MeV O+. The doses were in the range of 2.5 × 1016 up to 8.0 × 1017 at. cm−2. After annealing at 1200°C, homoepitaxial diamond films were deposited onto the substrates. The surface films were then removed by selective etching of the ion-damaged layer at 580°C in flowing air. This process was repeated with the remaining substrates. The lattice damage of the substrates and the crystalline quality of the homoepitaxial films were investigated by ion channelling at following process steps: (0) before implantation; (1) after implantation; (2) after annealing; (3) after deposition; (4) after the liftoff-step; and (5) after the second deposition step. The channelling analyses proved that it is possible to deposit high-quality diamond onto the ion-damaged substrates and to repeat the liftoff-technique without additional process steps such as, e.g., polishing the substrates after removing the epitaxial films.