Method of fabricating of diamond moth-eye surface
First Claim
1. A method of forming a diamond moth eye surface, comprising the steps of:
- etching a substrate to produce cavities in said substrate, said cavities forming a surfacerelief pattern comprising an inverse of said diamond moth eye surface;
nucleating and growing a polycrystalline diamond film on said substrate, said diamondfilm filling said cavities;
bonding an optical material to said diamond film; and
removing said substrate from said diamond film to expose said diamond moth eyesurface, said moth eye surface providing an effective refractive index gradient between the atmosphere and said optical material bonded to said diamond film.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A high temperature resist process is combined with microlithographic patterning for the production of materials, such as diamond films, that require a high temperature deposition environment. For diamond films, a high temperature silicon nitride resist can be used for microlithographic patterning of a silicon substrate to provide a uniform distribution of diamond nucleation sites and to improve diamond film adhesion to the substrate. A fine-grained nucleation geometry, established at the nucleation sites, is maintained as the diamond film is deposited over the entire substrate after the silicon nitride resist is removed. The process can be extended to form surface relief features, such as "moth eye" surfaces, and microstructures of fine-grained polycrystalline diamond, such as rotatable microgears and surface relief patterns, that have the desirable characteristics of hardness, wear resistance, thermal conductivity, chemical inertness, anti-reflectance, and a low coefficient of friction.
38 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of forming a diamond moth eye surface, comprising the steps of:
- etching a substrate to produce cavities in said substrate, said cavities forming a surface
relief pattern comprising an inverse of said diamond moth eye surface;
nucleating and growing a polycrystalline diamond film on said substrate, said diamondfilm filling said cavities;
bonding an optical material to said diamond film; and
removing said substrate from said diamond film to expose said diamond moth eyesurface, said moth eye surface providing an effective refractive index gradient between the atmosphere and said optical material bonded to said diamond film. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17)
- etching a substrate to produce cavities in said substrate, said cavities forming a surface
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9. A method of forming a diamond moth eye surface on an optical material, comprising the steps of:
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providing a substrate; etching said substrate anisotropically to produce cavities in said substrate, said cavities forming a surface relief pattern having an etch profile comprising an inverse of said diamond moth eye surface; seeding said etched substrate with diamond particles; nucleating and growing a polycrystalline diamond film on said substrate, said diamond film covering said substrate and filling said cavities; bonding said optical material to said diamond film with a refractive index matched cohesive material; and removing said substrate from said diamond film to expose said diamond moth eye surface to the atmosphere, said moth eye surface having dimensions for providing an effective refractive index gradient between the atmosphere and said optical material bonded to said diamond film. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of forming a thick film polycrystalline diamond moth eye surface on an optical material, comprising the steps of:
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providing a substrate for supporting growth of said diamond film; etching said substrate anisotropically to produce cavities in said substrate, said cavities forming a surface relief pattern having an etch profile comprising an inverse of said diamond moth eye surface; seeding said etched substrate with sub-micron diamond particles; nucleating and growing said polycrystalline diamond film on said substrate, said diamond film covering said substrate and filling said cavities; bonding said optical material to said diamond film with a refractive index matched cohesive material; and removing said substrate from said diamond film to expose said diamond moth eye surface to the atmosphere, said moth eye surface having dimensions providing an effective refractive index gradient between the atmosphere and said optical material bonded to said diamond film. - View Dependent Claims (16, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification