Evidence for layered growth of „100... textured diamond films

The growth of diamond films synthesized by the hot filament chemical vapor deposition method hasbeen studied by scanning tunneling microscopy ͑STM͒. The smooth ͑100͒ faces of micron-sizeddiamond crystallites were found to exhibit pyramidal shaped architecture at the nano level. TheSTM data for chemical vapor deposited diamond is analyzed in the light of recently developeddynamical scaling approach. The value of the scaling exponent ␣ Х0.85 signifies a growth primarilydriven by the transport of reacting species on the surface rather than molecular diffusion in gasphase.