Surface Free Energies and Morphologies of Chemical Vapor Deposited Diamond Films

We have calculated the surface free energies of the chemical vapor deposited diamond crystals during the preparation process, using the model that a fraction of carbon dangling bonds on the growth surface are saturated by hydrogen. The results show that the surface free energies of the three most energetically favored crystal planes, i. e. (100), (110) and (111), can be used to interpret the changes of predominant facets in the surface morphology from 100 to 111 with increasing substrate temperature. In chemical vapor deposition conditions, it is found that the growth surfaces of diamond are more stable than that of graphite.