The surface morphology of vicinal (100) single-crystal diamond surfaces homoepitaxially grown in a microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (MPACVD) reactor is studied. High-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) single-crystal diamond substrates produced by different vendors are used as substrates. Prior to the CVD growth, substrates were mechanically polished and etched in a separate inductively coupled plasma/reactive ion etching (ICP/RIE) tool using an Ar/Cl 2 gas mixture. The impact of (a) ICP etching regime of the HPHT substrate, (b) substrate polishing, and (c) the HPHT substrate misorientation (off-axis) vicinal angle on the surface morphology is examined. It was found that the ICP etching removes polishing-induced defects in the bulk and also removes diamond particles which are left on the surface of single-crystalline diamond after polishing. The morphology of the surface of the homoepitaxial CVD diamond grown on a substrate, which is free of polishing defects, depends not only on the parameters of the growth process (substrate temperature, composition of the gas mixture, pressure, etc.), but also on the value and direction of the off-axis angle.