A Survey of the Machining Characteristics and Mechanical Polishing Technology of CVD Diamond Films

The rough surfaces and non-uniform thicknesses of chemically vapor-deposited (CVD) diamond films and substrates affect their industrial application. In recent years, many polishing and planarization methods have been reported, but each method has its relative merits. This paper reviews the necessity for processing of the CVD diamond films first. Then the processing mechanism of micro-cracking and the characteristics of mechanical polishing of diamond films are discussed. The remove form of the material and surface characteristics are compared by three mechanical polishing method, including free abrasive polishing, fixation abrasive polishing and membrane on the membrane polishing method. No matter what form of mechanical polishing process is adopted, because of its inherent characteristics and the principles of processing, mechanical polishing CVD diamond films can only be as polish processing to remove large residual. The macro-surface roughness of processing is about the 2μm. The micro-rough surface roughness is for the 40nm or so. The material removal rate is 10nm/h.