Heteroepitaxial growth of highly oriented diamond on cubic silicon carbide

We have deposited epitaxial diamond films with very low angular spread on epitaxial beta-phase silicon carbide layers on silicon (001) substrates. From x-ray rocking curve measurements, half-widths of the angular spread of the crystal orientation as low as 0.6 deg have been determined, which is the smallest value ever reported in heteroepitaxial diamond films and appears to be smaller than those of the beta-phase silicon carbide underlayers. The film surface exhibits a roughness of about 100 run with very few discernible boundaries due to misorientation. The optimization of the bias-enhanced nucleation process and the control of selective growth are the main factors for the improvement of the crystallinity.