Crystalline perfection of chemical vapor deposited diamond films

The crystalline perfection of microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposited (MPACVD) diamond films grown under various conditions has been examined by TEM. Most CVD diamond films thus far reported contain a high density of defects, predominantly twins and stacking faults on {111} planes. We show that under appropriate growth conditions, these planar defects are eliminated from the center of the crystallites, and occur only at grain boundaries where the growing crystallites meet.