Growth mechanisms of CVD diamond films determined by a novel TEM technique

A novel TEM technique is introduced for studying thick as-grown CVD diamond films. For a 001 line type texture consisting of 2-3 micron-diameter grains with 001 plane and 111 plane type facets, the core volume bounded by the (001) top facet and orthogonal 110 plane type is free from microtwins and stacking faults, but may contain a few dislocations. The remaining volume around the core, bounded by 111 line type facets, is filled with microtwins. The formation of microtwins in CVD diamond is associated with growth on 111 line type. A (001) plane twin-free column model is described to summarize all these observations.