ABSTRACT
This chapter describes clean and contaminated diamond surfaces, Chemical-vapor-deposited (CVD) diamond film deposition technology, the characterization of CVD diamond film, and general and tribological properties of these films. Researchers have found that atomically clean diamond has high adhesion and friction. When a fresh atomically clean diamond surface comes in contact with an atomically clean surface of counterfacing material, the dangling bonds can form the strong linkages with bonds on the counterfacing material surface. Although diamond is generally inert to most chemical environments, the interaction of hydrogen and oxygen with diamond surfaces may play an important role in the application of diamond film technology to tribology. The surface morphology and roughness of CVD diamond films can be controlled by varying the deposition parameters, such as gas-phase chemistry parameters and temperatures.
