Method and device for monitoring a microwave plasma assisted deposition

A method for monitoring growth conditions of a microwave plasma-assisted deposition for diamond manufacture, said method being implemented by a monitoring device comprising a digital image capture means, a digital image processing module, and a data processing module, said method including the steps of:

• capturing a digital color image of at least one growing diamond layer, using the digital image capturing means,
• extracting color characteristic values from at least one area of the captured digital image, by the digital image processing module, and
• analyzing, by the data processing module, the extracted color characteristic values to detect a deviation of the growth conditions during the microwave plasma-assisted deposition,
• wherein the extraction step is repeated at different times and/or locations and is followed by a step of determining a distribution of color characteristics in time and/or space, and wherein the analysis step is performed from the distribution of the extracted color characteristics in time and/or space.

A method for monitoring growth conditions of a microwave plasma-assisted deposition for diamond manufacture, said method being implmented by a monitoring device comprising a digital image capture means, a digital image processing module, and a data processing module, said method including the steps of:

• capturing a digital color image of at least one growing diamond layer, using the digital image capturing means,
• extracting color characteristic values from at least one area of the captured digital image, by the digital image processing module,
• analyzing, by the data processing module, the extracted color characteristic values to detect a deviation of the growth conditions during the microwave plasma-assisted deposition, and
• measuring values of emission intensity values of plasma species by optical spectroscopy and temperature by two-wavelength infrared pyrometry, said values being analyzed, by the data processing module, in parallel with the extracted color characteristic values, to detect a deviation of the growth conditions during the microwave plasma-assisted deposition.