This paper reviews the growth of diamond by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). It includes the following seven parts: (1) Properties of diamond: this part briefly introduces the unique properties of diamond and their origin and lists some of the most common diamond applications. (2) Growth of diamond by CVD: this part reviews the history and the methods of growing CVD diamond. (3) Mechanisms of CVD diamond growth: this part discusses the current understanding on the growth of metastable diamond from the vapour phase. (4) Characterization of CVD diamond: we discuss the two most common techniques, Raman and XRD, which have been intensively employed for characterizing CVD diamond. (5) CVD diamond growth characteristics: this part demonstrates the characteristics of diamond nucleation and growth on various types of substrate materials. (6) Nanocrystalline diamond: in this section, we present an introduction to the growth mechanisms of nanocrystalline diamond and discuss their Raman features. This paper provides necessary information for those who are starting to work in the field of CVD diamond, as well as for those who need a relatively complete picture of the growth of CVD diamond.

A novel nucleation process (NNP), called the Rotter nucleation process in a recent review article, is described in detail in this paper. The NNP is based on the initial formation of a carbon film that, together with the diamond seeds on the surface (by standard seeding), plays an important role in the growth of the diamond layer. In the early stage, NNP induces a lateral growth mode that prevails until the initial grains coalesce and columnar growth begins. This method opens up new ways of using thin diamond films as encapsulation layers, and enables the formation of composite materials based on diamond.

Enhanced electron-field emission from nanodiamond ridge-structured emission arrays capped on micropatterned silicon pillars Microstructure and its effect on field electron emission of grain-size-controlled nanocrystalline diamond films High current density field emission from arrays of carbon nanotubes and diamond-clad Si tips

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