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The so-called bias pretreatment allows the growth of heteroepitaxial diamond films by plasma chemical vapor deposition on silicon (100) surfaces. We present plan-view and cross-sectional transmission electron micrographs of the substrate surface at different phases of the bias pretreatment. These observations are augmented by measurements of the etch rates of Si, SiC, and different carbon modifications under plasma conditions and the size distribution of oriented diamond crystals grown after bias pretreatment. Based on these results a new model for diamond nucleation under bias conditions is proposed. First, a closed layer of nearly epitaxially oriented cubic SiC with a thickness of about 10 nm is formed. Subplantation of carbon into this SiC layer causes a supersaturation with carbon and results in the subcutaneous formation of epitaxially oriented nucleation centers in the SiC layer. Etching of the SiC during the bias pretreatment as well as during diamond growth brings these nucleation centers to the sample surface and causes the growth of diamonds epitaxially oriented on the Si/SiC substrate.