International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing

TOPICAL REVIEW • OPEN ACCESS You may also like

- Device design principles and bioelectronic
Energy beam-based direct and assisted polishing applications for flexible organic
electrochemical transistors
techniques for diamond: A review Lin Gao, Mengge Wu, Xinge Yu et al.

- Defect-Engineered MnO2 as Catalyst for

the Chemical Mechanical Polishing of
To cite this article: Zhuo Li et al 2024 Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 012004 Silicon Carbide Wafer
Wanying Guo, Xue Kong, Mingxuan Wang
et al.

- Polishing of Tungsten Carbide by

Combination of Anodizing and Silica Slurry
View the article online for updates and enhancements. Polishing
Hui Deng, Xinquan Zhang, Kui Liu et al.

This content was downloaded from IP address 36.73.35.198 on 16/10/2023 at 14:01

 IMMT International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing

Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 (32pp) https://doi.org/10.1088/2631-7990/acfd67

Topical Review

Energy beam-based direct and assisted

polishing techniques for diamond: A
review
Zhuo Li1, Feng Jiang1,4,∗, Zhengyi Jiang2,∗, Zige Tian1, Tian Qiu1, Tao Zhang2,3,
Qiuling Wen1, Xizhao Lu3, Jing Lu1 and Hui Huang3,4
1
Institute of Manufacturing Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, People’s Republic of
China
2
School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong,
Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
3
College of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, People’s
Republic of China
4
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Tools, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, People’s
Republic of China

E-mail: jiangfeng@hqu.edu.cn and jiang@uow.edu.au

Received 3 May 2023, revised 1 June 2023

Accepted for publication 25 September 2023
Published 10 October 2023

Abstract
Diamond is a highly valuable material with diverse industrial applications, particularly in the
fields of semiconductor, optics, and high-power electronics. However, its high hardness and
chemical stability make it difficult to realize high-efficiency and ultra-low damage machining of
diamond. To address these challenges, several polishing methods have been developed for both
single crystal diamond (SCD) and polycrystalline diamond (PCD), including mechanical,
chemical, laser, and ion beam processing methods. In this review, the characteristics and
application scope of various polishing technologies for SCD and PCD are highlighted.
Specifically, various energy beam-based direct and assisted polishing technologies, such as laser
polishing, ion beam polishing, plasma-assisted polishing, and laser-assisted polishing, are
summarized. The current research progress, material removal mechanism, and influencing
factors of each polishing technology are analyzed. Although some of these methods can achieve
high material removal rates or reduce surface roughness, no single method can meet all the
requirements. Finally, the future development prospects and application directions of different
polishing technologies are presented.
Keywords: single crystal diamond, polycrystalline diamond, energy beam polishing technology,
material removal mechanism, influencing factors

∗
Authors to whom any correspondence should be addressed.

Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any fur-
ther distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the
title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

© 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf IMMT

2631-7990/24/012004+32$33.00 1
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
1. Introduction
Diamond is a remarkable material with numerous desir-
able properties, including unparalleled hardness, strong
wear resistance, high thermal conductivity, and good light
transmission [1–3]. Besides, it has a wide band gap of 5.5 eV,
high electron mobility of 4500 cm V−1 S−1 , and high critical
breakdown electric field of 10 MV cm−1 [4, 5]. Due to these
exceptional physical and chemical characteristics, diamond is
widely used in high-precision cutting tools, optical compon-
ents, heat dissipation components, and high-power electronics
[6–12]. Moreover, among the various common wide band gap
semiconductors, diamond is hailed as the ultimate semicon-
ductor, as shown in figure 1. Furthermore, owing to its excel-
lent wear resistance and chemical stability, diamond is con-
sidered to be the ideal tool material for nanocutting [13, 14],
nanoindentation [15, 16], nanoscratching, etc. With the rapid
development of ultra-precision machining and semiconductor
technologies, diamond has become one of the most promising
materials in modern industry.
The high cost and limited availability restrict the prac-
tical and industrial applications of natural diamond. However,
recent advancements in chemical vapor deposition (CVD)
technology have enabled the large-scale production of syn-
thetic diamonds with various sizes and shapes [17, 18]. As a
result, high-performance diamond elements can now be used
in modern high-technology fields such as nuclear fusion react-
ors, x-ray optics, biochip substrate and sensors, and nanostruc-
tured devices [19–22]. To machine these diamond elements,
both high-quality diamonds and sophisticated machining tech-
niques are required for cutting, grinding, and polishing dia-
mond crystals. CVD diamond films have also gained popular-
ity in fields such as cutting tools, semiconductors, and heat
sinks [23, 24]. However, the thickness of CVD diamond films
is generally non-uniform, and their surface roughness tends to
increase with the increase in thickness [25]. Consequently, the
development of efficient technologies to resolve these issues
in polishing CVD diamond films has received considerable
attention. Nonetheless, the high hardness, wear resistance, and
chemical inertness of diamond have always been technical
challenges in modern manufacturing [26, 27]. Most industrial
applications of diamond require high-precision flattening to
obtain ultra-smooth and damage-free surfaces. Therefore, the
polishing and grinding processes are crucial for the industrial
application of diamond. With the continuous development of
semiconductor technology and the widespread use of CVD
diamond films, the quality of polished diamond surface has
improved considerably. Nevertheless, choosing an appropri-
ate polishing technology has emerged as an urgent problem in
the diamond processing industry.
The diamond polishing process dates back to 600 years
ago, and for centuries, the most common method of polish-
ing diamonds has been to press them onto a rapidly spinning
cast iron disc loaded with diamond grit [28]. However, it was
not until 1920 that Tolkowsky [29] systematically summar-
ized the diamond polishing process for the first time. With the
rapid industrial revolution, diamond grinding and polishing
2
Topical Review
technologies have continuously advanced, and many innov-
ative diamond polishing techniques have been established.
Mechanical polishing (MP) [30, 31], chemical–mechanical
polishing (CMP) [32, 33], thermochemical polishing (TCP)
[34, 35], dynamic friction polishing (DFP) [36, 37], laser pol-
ishing (LP) [38, 39], ion beam polishing (IBP) [7, 40], elec-
trical discharge machining (EDM) [41, 42], ultrasonic-assisted
polishing (UAP) [43, 44], plasma-assisted polishing (PAP)
[45, 46], and laser-assisted polishing (LAP) [47, 48] are some
of the commonly used techniques, each with its own advant-
ages and limitations. Among them, MP has simple equipment
and low processing costs, DFP has high polishing efficiency,
and CMP and TCP have high polishing accuracy.
Although the polishing technology of diamonds has been
extensively studied, the conventional polishing techniques like
MP, DFP, and CMP can cause varying degrees of damage to
the surface, such as scratches, cracks, and subsurface damage
[5, 49], which limits the use of single crystal diamond (SCD)
substrates in semiconductor and precision optics applications.
As shown in figure 2, energy beam-based direct and assisted
polishing technologies utilize lasers, ion beams, or plasma to
ablate, impact, or modify the diamond surface. Direct polish-
ing technologies include LP, IBP, and EDM. Assisted polish-
ing technologies include PAP and LAP. LP is a non-contact
polishing technique that utilizes thermal ablation to graph-
itize the surface of diamonds, selectively removing protru-
sions from the diamond surface based on the height differ-
ence between surface peaks and valleys [38]. LP integrates
the advantages of laser processing to achieve efficient pol-
ishing, but it can easily cause thermal defects on the dia-
mond surface. Recent studies have mainly focused on improv-
ing the polishing quality by selecting reasonable lasers and
adjusting laser parameters and incidence angle. IBP uses high-
energy ion beams or clusters to bombard the surface of dia-
mond substrate or film to remove protrusions by graphitiza-
tion and amorphization [40]. The type and parameters of ion
beams can affect the polishing quality of IBP. PAP is a pol-
ishing method combining chemical and mechanical material
removal, which involves surface chemical reactions induced
by plasma. This method not only obtains high-quality sur-
face but also provides high polishing efficiency. PAP has been
applied to superhard materials such as diamond, sapphire,
and silicon carbide [44, 46]. LAP, which is based on laser-
induced chemical reactions, has been successfully applied for
the polishing of SCD, polycrystalline diamond (PCD), and
CVD diamond films [47]. The main influencing factors of
PAP and LAP are the type of plasma or laser, type of react-
ive gas, material of the polishing disc, and the contact para-
meters of the polishing interface. The use of energy beam or
energy beam-assisted polishing has become the main devel-
opment trend in the field of diamond polishing. EDM is
a spark erosion technique that can create smooth surfaces.
However, it is mainly used to process PCD containing metal-
lic bonds, making it difficult to process undoped pure dia-
monds. Therefore, EDM technology is not widely used for dia-
mond polishing, and this technology is not described in detail
here [41, 42].
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 1. Main applications of diamond [6, 7, 9–12]; performance comparison of main semiconductor materials (for comparison, the
properties of silicon are thermal conductivity: 150 W m−1 K−1 , thermal expansion coefficient: 2.6 µm m−1 K−1 , dielectric constant: 11.8,
electron mobility: 1500 cm2 V−1 g−1 , hole mobility: 450 cm2 V−1 g−1 , and saturated carrier velocity: 105 m s−1 ). Reprinted from [6],
Copyright (2013), with permission from Elsevier. Reproduced with permission from [7]. Reproduced from [9]. © The Author(s). Published
by IOP Publishing Ltd CC BY 4.0. Reproduced from [10], with permission from Springer Nature. Reprinted from [11], with the permission
of AIP Publishing. [12, 2022], reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor & Francis Ltd, www.tandfonline.com).

In this review, the processing characteristics and polish-
ing methods of SCD and PCD are classified and comprehens-
ively analyzed, and the surface polishing technologies suitable
for these materials are summarized. Specifically, two types of
energy beam-based direct polishing techniques (LP and IBP)
and two types of energy beam-assisted polishing techniques
(PAP and LAP) are discussed. Furthermore, the technical pro-
gress, material removal mechanism, and influencing factors of
these polishing technologies are presented.
2. Processing characteristics and polishing
methods of SCD and PCD
2.1. SCD
To achieve material surfaces with low roughness and minimal
subsurface damage, it is essential to comprehend the mater-
ial removal and damage generation process during polish-
ing. For SCD, which exhibits significant anisotropy, invest-
igating the deformation mechanism of subsurface dislocations
and slip systems can provide valuable insight into the contact
machining processes. Recent developments in this area involve
indentation and scratching experiments as well as numerical
simulations on different crystal planes.
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been extens-
ively employed to systematically explore the nanoindentations
on the (001), (110), and (111) planes of SCD [54, 55]. Previous
studies have been restricted to an indentation depth of less
than 2 nm due to the limited computational ability, and the
SCD remained in the elastic stage [56]. However, when the
indentation depth reached 4 nm, a pop-in event was observed
in the force–displacement (P–h) curve obtained from the MD
simulation of nanoindentation on the (001) plane, indicat-
ing the onset of plasticity in diamond [55]. Figures 3(a)–(c)
illustrate the P–h curves of indentations on the (001), (110)
and (111) planes [54]. The P–h curves are highly consist-
ent with the results obtained from the Hertz solution in the
elastic stage until the pop-in events occur in all three planes.
The results indicate significant differences in the elastic mod-
ulus and elastic–plastic critical points in the three crystal
planes of SCD. The dislocation structures and distributions
of octahedral shear stress under the three planes are shown
in figures 3(d)–(f) [54]. The dislocation rings mainly occur
along {111}<110>, which is in agreement with the exper-
imental results, and they exhibit significantly different pat-
terns in different planes. The pattern under the (001) plane is
fourfold-symmetric, whereas that under the (110) and (111)
planes is axisymmetric and threefold-symmetric, respectively
[54]. This suggests that the subsurface dislocations and slip
deformation generated during the processing of SCD have sig-
nificant anisotropy.
SCD shows obvious anisotropy during processing. There
are three principal crystal lattice plane groups in diamond:
cubic {100}, dodecahedral {110}, and octahedral {111}.
Schuelke and Grotjohn [6] summarized the anisotropic reg-
ularity during SCD processing, as shown in figures 4(a)–(c).
Even for the same crystal plane, there are harder or softer pol-
ishing directions. For example, the <100> direction, along
which a higher removal rate and better surface quality can be
obtained, is considered to be a soft direction on the (001) plane,

3
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

plate, rotation spe

shing ed o
of poli f po
ial lish
er ing
mat pla
s, te
ga
Diamond
,p Ar MFC DPM 15 mm

n ol Upper
electrode

it o H 2O

OH
i
H OH OH
H 2O
Upper
rotary
SCD

sh
OH OH OH HO OH OH Plasma wafer

ea
Polishing

in
plate
Al Al Al Al Al Al
fr Rotary

g
Sapphire plate table
eo

tim
Quartz glass window RP
typ

e,
Vacuum ultraviolet irradiation Plasma assisted

co
polishing
py,

Diamond

nta
OH OH OH OH OH OH
C C
otro

C
Al Al Al Al Al Al H OH

ct p
O OH O OH O OH
reactions and ab
Sapphire plate
Anis

cal ras
Si Si Si Si Si Si
mi

ressu
Si plate
Quartz e io
glass
Ch n
polishing te
d ch Diamond
ste

re
no
si l C
H C OH C

og
As
Ultraviolet ray Diamond
O OH O OH O OH

y
Laser-assisted Si Si Si Si Si Si
Si plate
polishing Energy beam
ns laser 355 nm
polishing of
sp3
diamond Before etching
(C-C/C-H)
10× CI

Intensity/a.u.
io n n d
NA 0.3 CII

gy
Removal of ir e sp3
D

a
(C-C/C-H)
o
Gr

After etching
ct ol
60 min
graphite sp2

n
n

ngle
po
ap

io
ech
sp3
li s h i n g t After etching

at
(C-C/C-H)

at
150 min
hi

iz z
i ti h
sp2

iz
t

at
p h rp
Las

nt a
292 290 288 286 284 282 280

io Binding energy/eV
Laser polishing n Gra a m o After 4 h etching
er t

ide
yp

inc
1.07 μm
e,

Zone-B

rs,
las

Zone-A

ete
10 μm Ra 1.083 μm
er

2 μm

m
2.0
pa

Zone-B
Intensity/Arb. Units

ra
Diamond
1 332 cm−1 Zone-A
1.5
ra

Graphite

pa
1 590 cm−1

et
m

1.0

er
m
s,
0.5
a
in
0.0
Ion beam be
cid
500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 2 500
n
, io
Raman shift/cm−1

en polishing
ta tion
ng
le nta
tal orie
Crys

Figure 2. Energy beam polishing techniques of diamond [8, 39, 46, 48, 50–53]. Reproduced from [8] with permission from the Royal
Society of Chemistry. [39] John Wiley & Sons. © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH. Reproduced from [46], with permission from Springer Nature.
Reprinted from [48], Copyright (2013), with permission from Elsevier. Reprinted from [50], Copyright (2022), with permission from
Elsevier. Reprinted from [51], Copyright (2021), with permission from Elsevier. Reprinted from [52], Copyright (2018), with permission
from Elsevier. Reprinted from [53], Copyright (2014), with permission from Elsevier.

while the <110> direction is a hard one, which should be usu- and PCD films. PCD films are usually prepared by CVD,
ally avoided. also known as CVD diamond films. PCD films can be clas-
Hird and Field confirmed that the anisotropy of SCD can sified based on the average grain size as microcrystalline dia-
seriously affect the wear rate during polishing [57]. The final mond (MCD, >100 nm), nanocrystalline diamond (NCD, 10–
quality of the polished surface is also a function of the wear 100 nm), and ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD, <10 nm),
rate and is therefore anisotropic. Polishing along the soft dir- as illustrated in figure 5 [58–63]. The process of preparing
ection tends to produce a smooth surface, while polishing PCD films involves seeding nano-diamond particles onto a
along the hard direction tends to cause a rougher surface. substrate surface and gradually growing them into a thin film
Figures 4(a)–(c) shows the preferred or soft grinding direction via hydrogen-rich chemical reactions in a chamber contain-
on different SCD facets [6, 58]. Figures 4(d) and (e) show that ing methane and H2 gas [59]. The grain size of the film is
the direction of hard polishing and soft polishing has a great affected by the seeding density and environmental pressure
influence on the finish of {100} and {110} surfaces of SCD of the particles. In general, the production of MCD involves
[6, 59]. using a very low percentage of CH4 [64], while NCD pro-
duction requires seeding nanoparticles with a high nucleation
density [65]. On the other hand, UNCD is typically grown
2.2. PCD
in environments with a low hydrogen concentration and a
PCD is applied in electronic substrates and wear-resistant high argon concentration [66]. Figure 5 illustrates that when
parts. It can be categorized into PCD tools, PCD substrates, prepared using the CVD method, the MCD film exhibits the

4
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

(a) (b) (c)

40 000 40 000 40 000
(100) (110) (111)
Hertz E001=1 060 GPa Hertz E110=1 350 GPa Hertz E111=1 250 GPa
Indentation force/nN

Indentation force/nN

Indentation force/nN
30 000 30 000 30 000
(26.8, 19 763.36)
(28, 17 121.14)
(22.4, 15 899.79)
20 000 20 000 20 000

Elastic Plastic Elastic Plastic

10 000 10 000 Elastic Plastic
10 000

0 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Indentation depth/Å Indentation depth/Å Indentation depth/Å

(001) (110) (111)

Dislocation
structure

Perspective view Perspective view Perspective view

τ8/GPa
100

Stress
distribution

(d) Top view (e) Top view (f) Top view 0

Figure 3. Indentation curve and dislocation analysis on different SCD crystal planes. (a)–(c) Indentation P-h curves on: (a) (001) plane,
(b) (110) plane, and (c) (111) plane; (d)–(f) dislocation structures and distributions of octahedral shear stress at the indentation depth of
5.8 nm on (001), (110), and (111) planes [54]. Reprinted from [54], Copyright (2018), with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 4. Effect of anisotropy on the polishing quality of SCD. (a)–(c) Diamond crystal anisotropy [6]. Influence of hard and soft polishing
directions on the surface of (d) {100} and (e) {110} planes [6]. Reprinted from [6], Copyright (2013), with permission from Elsevier.

highest surface roughness, followed by the NCD film, while PCD films are commonly used in coating tools [67],
the UNCD film shows the best surface quality, achieving a ultra-precision machining [57], and electronic devices [68].
root-mean-square (RMS) roughness value of 5 nm [2]. However, during the growth process of PCD thin films, defects

5
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
Figure 5. Schematic diagram and cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of different diamond phases (MCD, NCD,
and UNCD) deposited on silicon substrate [63]. Reprinted from [63], Copyright (2022), with permission from Elsevier.
such as asymmetric thickness, random crystal orientation, and
uneven crystal grains frequently occur [63]. These defects lead
to a rough surface, which limits the industrial applications of
PCD films [69]. Bhat et al [70] reported that the roughness
of CVD diamond film on the surface of coated tools greatly
impacts the cutting efficiency, machining accuracy, and final
surface quality. Similarly, Yang et al [69] pointed out that the
roughness of PCD films on the surface of high-power elec-
tronic components significantly affects their heat dissipation
efficiency. The heat dissipation efficiency decreases with the
increase in roughness. The material removal rate (MRR) dif-
fers significantly among different crystal faces on the PCD
surface, which is usually exposed to a large number of such
faces. Malshe et al [71] explained that the competitive growth
of adjacent crystals during CVD to produce PCD forms micro-
cavities that severely limit the high-precision surface polish-
ing. Hence, traditional MP technology is ineffective for PCD
surfaces.
2.3. Polishing method
Table 1 summarizes the properties of different polishing meth-
ods for SCD and PCD. The anisotropy of SCD is the main
factor affecting its polishing quality. Several mechanical,
chemical, laser, and ion beam processing methods have been
developed for polishing SCD. These methods can be categor-
ized into two groups: ordinary polishing technology and mixed
polishing technology. Ordinary polishing technology utilizes a
single material removal method, including MP, TCP, DFP, LP,
and IBP. By contrast, mixed polishing technology involves the
use of multiple material removal methods, such as CMP, PAP,
LAP, and UAP.
The difference in crystal orientation and uneven grain size
on the surface of PCD as well as the uneven thickness of CVD
diamond films can cause great difficulties in polishing PCD.
Therefore, the polishing difficulty of PCD is generally higher
6
Topical Review
than that of SCD. Currently, there are several technologies
for polishing the surface of PCD. Conventional polishing
techniques include CMP, TCP, DFP, and UAP. Energy beam
polishing techniques include LP, IBP, and LAP. Non-contact
polishing technologies like LP and IBP can be used to pol-
ish various plane and curved surfaces and are currently the
most commonly used polishing technologies for CVD dia-
mond films. All these technologies, except EDM, can be used
for the surface polishing of both SCD and PCD.
As shown in table 1, the conventional polishing tech-
niques can cause some defects on the diamond surface [3,
66]. Although CMP technology has high accuracy, its MRR
is too low. In addition, conventional polishing techniques can-
not be used for curved surface polishing, which limits their
application in the preparation of precision diamond compon-
ents. Energy beam polishing technology can make up for the
shortcomings of conventional polishing technology and are
expected to become a research hotspot in the field of diamond
polishing.
2.4. Characteristics and limitations of conventional polishing
techniques
Table 2 summarizes the characteristics of various conventional
diamond polishing techniques. These techniques are classified
based on several aspects, including the processing mechan-
ism, polishing quality, polishing efficiency, equipment cost,
and commercial application. MP, DFP, and UAP are room-
temperature polishing techniques that do not usually involve
sample heating [30, 36, 43]. On the other hand, TCP and CMP
typically require heating modules to elevate the temperature
of the contact interface, enabling effective material removal
[6, 72, 73].
The material removal mechanism of diamond can be cat-
egorized into six types: abrasion and micro cleavage, car-
bon structure transformation, diffusion, chemical reaction,
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Table 1. Characteristics and polishing methods of SCD and PCD.

Diamond SCD PCD

Classification HPHT CVD CVD diamond films PCD substrates PCD tools
(PCD films)
Properties High thermal conductivity, Low friction coefficient, Good thermal High hardness, high
high light transmittance, high adhesion, high wear conductivity wear resistance, low
high chemical stability, resistance, and good coefficient of thermal
and good semiconductor thermal conductivity expansion
performance
Difficulties in The anisotropy of SCD Uneven thickness, uneven The removal rates of The edges and some
polishing can seriously affect the grain size, uneven surface different crystal curved surfaces of PCD
wear rate and surface orientations on the tools are difficult to
finish during polishing surface of PCD differ polish
significantly
Conventional MP, CMP, TCP, DFP, UAP CMP, TCP, DFP, UAP
polishing
techniques
Deficiencies of Scratches, pits, sub surface damage Microcracks, surface Scratches, cracks, low Unable to polish
conventional residual stress, breakage accuracy precision edges
polishing
technology
Can only be used for planar polishing, unable to polish curved surfaces
Energy beam LP, IBP, PAP, LAP LP, IBP, EDM, LAP
polishing
technology

evaporation, and sputtering [28]. A diamond polishing
technology typically involves a combination of these material
removal mechanisms. MP and UAP primarily rely on abrasion
and micro cleavage for material removal [74, 75]. TCP com-
bines chemical reaction, diffusion, and evaporation for mater-
ial removal [35]. CMP utilizes chemical reaction, abrasion,
and evaporation as the material removal mechanisms [76].
DFP involves abrasion, carbon structure transformation, dif-
fusion, and evaporation for material removal [77].
DFP and UAP exhibit the highest MRRs, typically ranging
from tens to hundreds of microns per hour [36, 43, 58]. TCP
follows with a medium MRR, typically up to 10 µm h−1 [69].
CMP has the lowest MRR, usually less than 1 µm h−1 [78, 79].
Generally, MP has lower efficiency, but recent advancements
in the grinding wheel technology such as the use of various
metallic materials and the introduction of ultrasonic-assisted
processes have significantly improved its efficiency. MP can
now achieve MRRs up to tens of microns per hour [80].
Nevertheless, it is important to note that the surface precision
obtained by polishing with grinding wheel remains limited.
In general, the polishing techniques with high MRRs have
limitations in achieving high-quality surfaces. For instance,
DFP can cause mechanical damage to the diamond surface
and is typically suitable for processing surfaces with rough-
ness in the range of tens of nanometers [36, 81]. On the other
hand, MP can achieve surface roughness in the range of sev-
eral nanometers [82, 83]. CMP is capable of producing sub-
nanometer precision surfaces with a roughness (Ra) below
1 nm [84]. TCP, being a precision polishing technique, can
achieve ultra-high precision surfaces with roughness below
0.5 nm [85]. Due to the random crystal orientation distribution
and grain inhomogeneity, CVD diamond films often have an
initial roughness of several microns, which is significantly lar-
ger than that of SCD surfaces. Diamond films are usually pol-
ished by CMP, DFP, and UAP. The surface roughness of pol-
ished diamond films can reach tens to hundreds of nanometers
[73, 75, 86].
MP is the most widely used diamond polishing technique
due to its simple equipment and low cost [87, 88]. The cost of
CMP is higher than that of MP, and it is widely used for pre-
cision polishing of diamond substrates [81]. The cost of TCP
is slightly higher than that of CMP due to the incorporation
of heating equipment [89]. DFP and UAP are commonly used
for efficient polishing of SCD substrates and CVD diamond
films due to their excellent polishing efficiency [75, 90]. The
cost of DFP and UAP is high due to the high manufacturing
cost of alloy polishing plate and the introduction of ultrasonic
equipment.
According to table 2, it is evident that conventional polish-
ing methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. In
general, these methods have certain limitations that need to be
considered. These limitations include their suitability for flat
polishing only, inability to polish curved surfaces, difficulty
in balancing polishing accuracy with MRR, and the challenge
in achieving precision polishing for large-sized diamond sub-
strates. These limitations make it difficult to produce ultra-
precision diamond components and substrates. Therefore, it
is crucial to explore new energy beam polishing technologies
for boosting the industrial application of diamonds in various
fields.

7
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Table 2. Summary of characteristics of conventional polishing techniques.

Polishing method MP TCP CMP DFP UAP

◦ ◦
Temperature Room >750 C >300 C Room Room
Mechanism Microdissociation Phase change, hot Oxidation, abrasion Phase change, Microdissociation
metal plate, thermal abrasion and caused by ultrasound,
diffusion etching chemical reaction abrasion and micro
caused by friction cleavage
heating
MRR Polishing plate: SCD: <1 µm h−1 <1 µm h−1 >200 µm h−1 50–200 µm h−1
<0.5 µm h−1 ; (0.15 µm h−1 [89]) (0.5 µm h−1 [78], (222 µm h−1 [36]) SCD: 45 µm h−1 [43],
(0.253 µm h−1 [82]) 0.37 µm h−1 [79]) PCD: 200 µm h−1 [75]
Grinding wheel: PCD: 5–10 µm h−1
>50 µm h−1 (9.6 µm h−1 [73])
(56.35 µm h−1 [80])
Surface quality Polishing plate: Ra SCD: Ra < 0.5 nm SCD: Ra 0.5–5 nm Ra 20–500 nm SCD: Ra 10 nm [92],
1–10 nm (Ra 1.66 nm (Ra 0.16 nm [85]) (Ra 0.82 nm [84], Ra
[82], Ra 1.65 nm [83]) 1.66 nm [91])
Grinding wheel: PCD: Ra 25 nm [73] PCD: Ra 0.1–1.5 µm (Ra 20 nm [81], Ra PCD: Ra 0.5 µm [75]
Ra 0.5–2.5 µm (Ra 20 nm [93], Ra 397 nm [36])
(Ra 0.55 µm [86] 95 nm [73])
Ra 2.5 µm [80])
Cost Low High High High High
Advantages Low cost, simple High polishing High polishing High MRR, low cost High MRR
equipment accuracy, high accuracy
material removal
rate (MRR)
Disadvantages Low polishing Complex equipment, Complex equipment, Low polishing Complex equipment,
accuracy, easy to cause high cost, thermal high cost, and low accuracy, with defects low polishing accuracy
mechanical damage damage MRR on the polished
surface
Main limitations Can only be used for planar polishing, unable to polish curved surfaces, unable to balance polishing accuracy and
MRR, unable to achieve precision polishing of large-sized diamond substrates

3. Progress of energy beam-based direct and
assisted polishing techniques for diamond
3.1. LP
LP, a non-contact and pressureless polishing process, is
primarily used for polishing diamond films, diamond tools,
and drill truing. In 1987, Rothschild et al [94] first reported
the LP technology for polishing diamond. In 1999, Pimenov
et al [95] used a copper vapor laser (510 nm wavelength) to
polish 150–400 µm thick diamond films and discovered that
the surface roughness was dependent on the incidence angle
of the laser beam and the polishing time. In 2017, Wang et al
[96] achieved a RMS roughness of 1.299 µm on a 250 µm thick
CVD diamond film using a 248 nm pulsed excimer laser. Their
results indicated that the surface roughness of the polished dia-
mond decreased with the decrease in incidence angle, and the
polishing rate increased logarithmically with the increase in
laser flux.
Over the recent years, there has been a growing demand
for improving the surface quality of diamond substrates due to
their wide applications in the semiconductor and optical fields.
The polishing quality and efficiency of LP have been improved
by experimenting with different laser types, adjusting laser
parameters, and using surface absorption films. Ogawa et al
[97] found that the roughness of PCD surface processed by
femtosecond laser was significantly better than that processed
by nanosecond laser. Kononenko et al [98] covered the surface
of PCD with thin absorption films (metal, graphite) and pol-
ished the surface with a wide-pulse infrared laser (10 ns). The
results showed that the absorption film significantly reduced
the ablation threshold and the polished surface roughness of
diamond. Scalbert et al [99] developed a high-power femto-
second laser ablation process to achieve high-throughput pol-
ishing of PCD wafers, with an MRR twice that of MP when
polishing the surface of fine-grained diamond, and the sur-
face roughness was also significantly reduced. Cui et al [100]
studied the influence of laser intensity on the polishing qual-
ity of CVD diamond films achieved by femtosecond LP, and
the best laser intensity was found to be 0.7 J cm−2 . Liu et al
[39] developed a nanosecond LP device with a wavelength
of 355 nm to polish the surface of SCD substrate, as shown

8
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 6. Principle and effect of laser polishing (LP) on CVD single crystal diamond using a femtosecond laser: (a) laser graphitization,
(b) laser ablation of the graphitized layer by 355 nm nanosecond laser, (c) illustration of defocusing configuration of Gaussian beam (Dde :
amount of laser defocusing, Dab : ablation depth), (d) comparison of surface profiles before and after LP, (e) and (f) atomic force microscopy
(AFM) morphology of polished surface. [39] John Wiley & Sons. © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Table 3. Main achievements in laser polishing (LP) of diamond.

Laser Laser
Diamond Initial roughness Final roughness Laser type frequency wavelength Energy density Removal rate References

CVD diamond Ra 3.4 µm Ra 0.59 µm

Copper vapor 15 kHz 510 nm 6.5 J·cm−2 — [95]
film laser
CVD diamond RMS 3.314 µm RMS 1.299 µm KrF excimer 20 Hz 248 nm 3.48 J·cm−2 24.19 µm h−1 [96]
film laser
CVD diamond Ra 1.85 µm Ra 0.51 µm Picosecond 200 kHz 515 nm 1.81 J·cm−2 — [101]
coating laser
NCD film RMS 73.84 nm RMS 31.88 nm Femtosecond 50 MHz 1040 nm 0.7 J cm−2 — [97]
laser
SCD substrate Ra 336.2 nm Ra 8.02 nm Nanosecond 50 kHz 355 nm 3.53 J cm−2 — [39]
laser

in figure 6. Nanosecond LP of diamond mainly includes two 3.2. IBP

processes: graphitization of diamond surface by high-energy
laser beam irradiation and removal of graphite layer by abla-
tion. Figure 6(c) shows a schematic of the laser ablation of
diamond. It can be seen that the ablation threshold and graph-
itization threshold affect the ablation depth. Therefore, during
the LP process, the ablation depth should be reasonably con-
trolled by adjusting the laser energy. As shown in figures 6(d)–
(f), after 40 ns laser scans, the surface roughness (Ra) of dia-
mond decreases from 336.2 nm to 8.02 nm.
Table 3 summarizes some recent research results on the LP
of diamond, mainly including the polishing quality, polish-
ing efficiency, and laser parameters used. It can be seen that
there is a significant difference between the polishing qualit-
ies of diamond films and SCD substrates. The minimum RMS
roughness of polished diamond films can only reach 31.88 nm,
while the surface roughness (Ra) of SCD substrates can reach
8.02 nm.
In 1972, Spencer and Schmidt [102] machined a hole with a
diameter of 0.375 mm on the surface of a diamond substrate
using an Ar ion beam and polished the inner surface of the
hole. In 1990, Hoffman et al [103] studied the graphitization
phenomenon that occurs when 1.5 keV argon and hydrogen
ions bombard the (100) surface of diamond. In 1992, Grogan
et al [104] polished a CVD diamond film with a 500 eV oxy-
gen ion beam, reducing the RMS surface roughness of the film
from 1.26 µm to 35 nm. In 1996, Vivensang et al [105] repor-
ted a method based on reactive ion etching (RIE) technology to
reduce the surface roughness of CVD diamond films to 14 nm.
In 2000, Koslowski et al [106] bombarded the (100) surface of
diamond with low-energy (1.2–1.5 keV) Ar+ ions, achieving
a minimum RMS roughness of only 0.1 nm. In 2019, Mi et al
[107] used an Ar+ ion beam (700 eV, 1.1 mA cm−2 , incid-
ence angle: 60◦ ) to polish the SCD substrate with scratches. As

9
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 7. Effect of IBP treatment on diamond. SEM image of a single trench (a) before, (b) after 4 min and (c) after 20 min of Ar+ ion
beam polishing [107]. Reprinted from [107], Copyright (2019), with permission from Elsevier. AFM images of the HPHT diamond
(d) before polishing and (e) after polishing by ICP Ar/Cl2 plasma for 10 min; (f) variation in the surface roughness with ICP time [108].
Reprinted from [108], Copyright (2008), with permission from Elsevier. SEM images of monolithic diamond nanopillars: (g) 3.4◦ , (h) 7.5◦ ,
(i) 11.5◦ , and (j) 21◦ . [112] John Wiley & Sons. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

shown in figures 7(a)–(c), after 20 min of polishing, the trench
depth on the substrate surface has decreased from 108 nm to
8 nm.
In the 21st century, numerous ion-based diamond pro-
cessing technologies have emerged due to the rapid develop-
ment of ion generation equipment, such as ion beam etch-
ing (IBE), RIE, ion beam assisted chemical etching (IBAE),
and reactive ion beam assisted chemical etching (RIBAE). In
addition, inductively coupled plasma (ICP), electron cyclo-
tron resonance (ECR) plasma, and focused ion beam (FIB)
have been successfully used for ultra-precision machining of
diamonds [108]. Schmitt et al [109] investigated the ability
of IBE to polish defined rough areas after RIE processing.
They studied the effects of an oxygen–argon mixture and etch-
ing depth on the surface quality of nano diamond films pro-
duced by RIE processing. The results showed that the surface
roughness increased with the increase in oxygen content and
etching depth but decreased with the increase in argon con-
tent. Schmitt et al confirmed that the polishing efficiency of
combining IBE and RIE is four times higher than that of only
IBE. Harker et al [110] polished a rough PCD film with an
iron plate under the action of active oxygen and hydrogen
ion beam and obtained a high-quality surface with Ra below
10 nm. Nagai et al [35] studied the ability, etching efficiency,
and quality of various ion beam technologies to etch SCD.
The results showed that RIBAE had the highest etching effi-
ciency and caused the least damage to the diamond crystal
structure. Ieshkin et al [111] studied the influence of accel-
erated gas cluster ion bombardment on the surface morpho-
logy of SCD. The 10 keV gas cluster ions with a total dose
of more than 1016 cm−2 could produce a high-quality surface
with an RMS roughness of 1.62 nm. Lee et al [108] studied the
effect of ICP on the surface of high-pressure, high-temperature
(HPHT) diamond. As shown in figures 7(d)–(f), after 10 min of
ICP treatment, the RMS surface roughness of diamond surface
decreases from 0.53 nm to 0.19 nm. This indicates that ICP can
produce very smooth diamond surfaces with high polishing
efficiency.

10
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Table 4. Main research achievements of ion beam polishing (IBP) on diamond.

Type of ion Energy/Chamber Current

Diamond Initial roughness Final roughness beams pressure density/Power Removal rate References
−2 −1
CVD diamond RMS 1.26 µm RMS 35 nm Oxygen ions 500 eV 0.2 mA·cm 0.82 µm h [104]
film
CVD diamond Ra 40 nm Ra 14 nm SF6 -O2 plasma 13.3 Pa 300 W 1.8 µm h−1 [105]
film
PCD-coated Ra 40 nm Ra 20 nm Ar+ -ion 1 keV 0.5 mA·cm−2 — [116]
tool
SCD substrate RMS 4.5 nm RMS 0.1 nm Ar+ -ion 1.2–1.5 keV 30 µA·cm−2 12 nm h−1 [106]
SCD substrate RMS 3.23 nm RMS 1.62 nm Gas-Cluster ion 10 keV — 16 nm per 1016 [111]
beams ion cm−2
HPHT SCD RMS 0.53 nm RMS 0.19 nm ICP Ar/Cl2 0.665 Pa 400 W 3.0 µm h−1 [108]
plasma
SCD substrate RMS 1.21 nm RMS 0.1 nm Ar+ -ion 1 keV — — [117]
SCD substrate RMS 13.4 nm RMS 4.2 nm Hydrogen 20–21 kPa 3.9–4 kW 169 nm h−1 [114]
plasma

Recently, RIE has emerged as a promising method for dia-
mond polishing. The MRR of RIE method for diamond with
O2 and H2 has been found to be 2.1 µm h−1 , which is three
times higher than that of IBP [113]. Further, RIE results in
better surface quality of diamond. It has been reported that
the crystalline structure of diamond after reactive ion pro-
cessing is preserved and no obvious damage is detected, while
an amorphous layer with a thickness of 11 nm and sp2 struc-
tures are found on the diamond surface after FIB processing
[114]. Hicks et al [115] achieved near-zero density of sur-
face pits using the Ar/O2 /CF4 reactive plasma etching, and
the addition of argon made a significant contribution, redu-
cing the surface roughness by 20%–44%. Zheng et al [50] used
microwave hydrogen plasma to treat the surface of SCD and
obtained a high-quality surface with an RMS surface rough-
ness of 4.2 nm. The MRR of this technology is 169 nm h−1 .
In recent years, RIE has been used for the nano-structuring
and nano-patterning of SCD. For example, Xie et al [112]
compared the etching of different crystal faces of diamond
and proposed a dry etching principle based on crystal direc-
tion. According to this principle, the monolithic diamond nan-
opillars for magnetometry have been fabricated, as shown in
figures 7(d)–(g). The half-tapering angle of these nanopillars
can reach 21◦ , which implies high photon efficiency and high
mechanical strength.
Table 4 summarizes the recent research achievements con-
tent of IBP on diamonds, mainly including polishing quality,
MRR, types of ion beams, and parameters of ion beams. The
effects of IBP on CVD diamond films and SCD substrates are
significantly different. The minimum surface roughness (Ra)
of CVD diamond films obtained by IBP can reach 14 nm, and
the MRR can reach 1.8 µm h−1 . The minimum RMS surface
roughness of SCD substrate obtained by IBP can reach 0.1 nm,
and the MRR can reach 169 nm h−1 .
3.3. PAP
In 2011, Yamamura et al [118] proposed the PAP method for
SCD surfaces. Liu et al [119] fabricated a device for PAP
of SCD, as shown in figures 8(a) and (b). The device cre-
ates Ar-based plasma through the radio frequency electric field
between the upper electrode and the lower rotating disc and
polishes diamond through the chemical and mechanical action
between the polishing disc and the substrate under the assist-
ance of plasma. As shown in figure 8(c), the minimum sur-
face roughness Sq of the SCD (100) substrate polished by
this device can reach 0.32 nm. To demonstrate that PAP is
a nondestructive polishing technology, Liu et al [120] detec-
ted subsurface damage of SCD (100) substrates after MP and
PAP through scanning cathodoluminescence (CL) with band
A emission (central wavelength = 432 nm). Band A emission
is considered to be caused by dislocation, sp2 hybrid struc-
ture, and other internal damage in diamond [121, 122]. The
results showed that there were obvious high luminous intensity
scratches on the SCD substrate after MP, but no such scratches
were observed after PAP. Luo et al obtained the cross-sectional
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of SCD in
<110> crystal orientation after MP and PAP, which are shown
in figures 8(d)–(g) [51]. It can be observed that there is a
3.9 nm thick amorphous layer between the Pt film and the
diamond surface after MP, which contains a large number of
dislocations. The diamond surface after PAP has no amorph-
ous layer and dislocations. This indicates that PAP has an
atomic-level material removal mechanism and can achieve
non-destructive processing of diamonds.
Liu and Yamamura et al [46, 123] used an oxygen-argon-
based plasma containing water vapor to modify the surface of
a quartz glass polishing plate and achieved a high MRR of
13.3 µm h−1 when polishing SCD (100) substrate. As shown
in figure 8(i), the surface roughness Sq after PAP is 0.458 nm,
and the maximum surface height Sz is 8.884 nm. The diamond
surface after PAP does not show scratches, consistent with the
<100> crystal direction, which indicates that anisotropy does
not affect the quality of PAP-processed diamond, as shown in
figure 8(j). The Raman spectra in figures 8(k) and (l) indic-
ate that there is no non-diamond structure or residual stress
on the polished diamond surface. Thus, PAP is a high-quality,
nondestructive, and efficient polishing method of diamond. As

11
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 8. Equipment and polishing effect of PAP on diamond. (a) Experimental setup of the vacuum PAP device; (b) fixing method of SCD
substrate; (c) scanning white light interferometric (SWLI) image of SCD substrate surface after PAP [119]. Reprinted from [119], Copyright
(2022), with permission from Elsevier. (d)–(g) cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of SCD in the <110>
crystal direction after MP and PAP: (d) and (e) MP, (f) and (g) PAP [51]. Reprinted from [51], Copyright (2021), with permission from
Elsevier. (h) Schematic of the experimental setup; (i) SWLI image of one local area on the mosaic SCD (100) substrate after PAP;
(j) average and distribution of Sq and Sz values of seven different local areas on the mosaic SCD (100) substrate after PAP obtained by
SWLI (84 µm2 ); (k) micro-Raman spectra of one group of points; (l) magnified Raman lines shown in (k) [46, 123]. Reprinted from [123],
Copyright (2018), with permission from Elsevier. (m) SWLI image of the entire mosaic SCD substrate before PAP obtained by the stitching
application; (n) SWLI image of the entire mosaic SCD substrate after PAP obtained by the stitching application; (o) cross-sectional profiles
of the same point on the mosaic SCD substrate before and after PAP [46]. Reproduced from [46], with permission from Springer Nature.

shown in figure 8(m), the SCD (100) substrate polished by Liu
et al [46] has a large size of 21 mm × 19 mm × 1 mm. Based
on figures 8(m)–(o), it can be inferred that the large wavi-
ness (height ⩾ 100 µm) on the SCD substrate before polish-
ing is completely removed by PAP, and the surface smooth-
ness of the polished substrate is very high. This indicates
that PAP technology offers significant advantages in polishing
large-sized diamond substrates, with high MRR and polishing
accuracy.
Table 5 summarizes the processing parameters and polish-
ing effects of PAP on diamond. Currently, PAP is only suc-
cessfully used for polishing SCD substrates. In [46, 51, 119,
120], Ar-based oxygen plasma was selected for the PAP of dia-
mond. The polishing accuracy of PAP is extremely high, and

12
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
Table 5. Main achievements of plasma-assisted polishing (PAP) for diamond.
Initial Final
Diamond Diamond size roughness roughness
SCD substrate 8 × 8 × 1 mm — Sq 0.32 nm
SCD substrate 19 × 21 × 0.5 mm Sq 7.15 nm Sq 0.48 nm
SCD substrate 4 × 4 × 2 mm Sq 308 nm Sq 0.86 nm
SCD substrate 21 × 19 × 1 mm Sq 0.66 µm Sq 0.46 nm
the surface roughness Sq of the polished SCD surface is below
0.5 nm, with a maximum MRR of 13.3 µm h−1 . In addition,
in [46, 120], the SCD substrate had a large size of 20 mm2 ,
indicating that PAP technology has been successfully used for
precision polishing of large-sized diamond substrates.
3.4. LAP
In 2009, Anan et al [47] proposed the LAP technology
based on the ultraviolet (UV) laser-induced chemical reac-
tions to produce active substances. By polishing the SCD
(100) substrate using this technology, the surface roughness
Ra decreased from 1.35 nm to 0.19 nm within 120 min of UV
laser irradiation. The surface roughness Ra could only reach
0.74 nm without UV laser irradiation.
In 2013, Watanabe et al [48] used a LAP device, as shown
in figures 9(a) and (d), to polish both SCD and PCD. The top of
the diamond substrate in the device was oxidized and removed
under local high temperature. As shown in figures 9(b) and
(c), the surface roughness Ra of SCD after polishing under
UV laser irradiation can reach 0.19 nm, and the MRR is
0.5 µm h−1 . Without UV laser irradiation, the surface rough-
ness Ra of SCD can only reach 0.63 nm, and the MRR is only
0.3 µm h−1 . As shown in figures 9(e) and (f), after 180 min
of polishing, the diamond tool forms a sharp edge with a half
diameter of 0.3 µm. The results suggest that LAP techno-
logy can be used for manufacturing ultra-precision tools. In
2018, Kubota and Takita [52] proposed a 172 nm vacuum-
ultraviolet (VUV) LAP method, as shown in figure 9(g). This
technology uses a laser-modified sapphire polishing plate to
polish the SCD substrate. The results show that the MRR
under UV laser irradiation (238.1 nm h−1 ) is about seven
times that without UV laser irradiation/(33.3 nm h−1 ). As
shown in figures 9(h) and (i), the surface roughness Ra of dia-
mond decreases from 4.673 nm to 0.133 nm within 1.5 h of
irradiation.
LP has high efficiency, while PAP has high accuracy.
Recently, Liu et al [124] proposed an efficient and high-
precision polishing process by combining nanosecond laser
trimming with PAP. As shown in figures 10(a) and (b), a layer
of Cu film is first coated on the surface of the diamond to
reduce the graphitization threshold of the diamond. This pre-
vents the high-energy laser beam from burning deep pits on the
Topical Review
Sliding Polishing Material
Plasma type speed pressure removal rate References
−1 −1
Ar-based oxygen 1.1 m s 246.9 kPa 5.3 µm h [119]
plasma
Ar-based oxygen 1.4 m s−1 37.59 kPa 0.55 µm h−1 [120]
plasma
Inductively 1.5 m s−1 62.5 kPa 1.5 µm h−1 [51]
coupled plasma
(Ar gas and
H2 O2 )
Argon-based 1.2 m s−1 401 kPa 13.3 µm h−1 [46]
oxygen plasma
diamond surface. As shown in figure 10(c), the peak-to-valley
value of diamond surface decreases by nearly 70 µm after
nanosecond laser treatment. This indicates that laser treat-
ment significantly improves the surface flatness. The G-band
in figure 10(d) suggests that there is an obvious graphite layer
on the surface of laser- treated diamond. Figures 10(e) and
(f) show the topography and Raman spectra of the diamond
surface after PAP. The roughness Sq of the diamond surface
after PAP reaches 0.51 nm. In figure 10(f), no graphite peak
is observed, and the N-peak is an intrinsic impurity peak in
the diamond sample. This indicates that the graphite layer
is removed by the PAP process, and the polished diamond
surface has no other damage. In this experiment, the surface
roughness Sq of the diamond after laser treatment is 7.81 µm.
After 6.5 h of PAP, Sq decreases to 0.51 nm. Overall, the hybrid
polishing process provides high polishing accuracy as well as
high polishing efficiency.
Table 6 summarizes the polishing effects of LAP on dia-
monds and the relevant processing parameters. Currently, UV
laser (wavelength 200–400 nm) is mainly used for the LAP of
diamond. SCD can achieve the highest surface quality by LAP,
with a surface roughness Ra of 0.133 nm. However, the MRR
of LAP is low. Except for the PCD substrate, the MRR of LAP
for diamond is less than 1 µm h−1 .
Table 7 presents a summary of various energy beam pol-
ishing technologies for diamond, including polishing quality,
polishing efficiency, equipment cost, and commercial applica-
tions. LP and IBP are widely used non-contact polishing tech-
niques that are not limited by the geometry of the diamond
surface. LP and IBP are typically used for polishing CVD dia-
mond films and SCD substrates. PAP and LAP are contact pol-
ishing techniques that are limited by the geometry of the dia-
mond surface. LP has the highest MRR, which can be higher
than 20 µm h−1 . PAP and LAP have the highest polishing
quality and can produce high-precision surfaces with Ra below
0.5 nm.
To recapitulate, LP is a non-contact polishing technology
that is not limited by the surface shape of the sample, facil-
itating flat and curved surface polishing. LP is more efficient
than traditional MP and CMP, with a MRR that can reach sev-
eral nanometers per second. However, the polishing accuracy
of LP is limited, and the surface roughness Ra after polishing
can only reach 8 nm. Further, the material removal method
13
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 9. Equipment and polishing effect of LAP on diamond. (a) Horizontal type UV polishing machine for SCD; (b) and (c) SWLI
images of SCD (100) substrate after 40 min of UV LP: (b) polishing under UV irradiation, (c) polishing without UV laser; (d) vertical type
UV polishing machine for PCD; (e) SEM image of CVD diamond film; (f) SEM image of CVD diamond film edge-sharpened by UV LP for
180 min [48]. Reprinted from [48], Copyright (2013), with permission from Elsevier. (g) Schematic of vacuum-UV (VUV)-assisted
polishing apparatus, (h) pre-polished diamond surface, (i) diamond surface polished by VUV laser irradiation [52]. Reprinted from [52],
Copyright (2018), with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 10. Polishing of SCD substrate by a combination of laser trimming and PAP. (a) Schematic of laser scanning of diamond,
(b) schematic of normal vaporization in the laser ablation of Au-coated SCD substrate, (c) cross-sectional profile of the same point on the
SCD substrate before and after laser trimming, (d) Raman spectrum of diamond surface after laser scanning, (e) SWLI image of SCD surface
after PAP, (f) Raman spectrum of SCD surface after PAP [124]. Reprinted from [124], Copyright (2023), with permission from Elsevier.

14
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Table 6. Main achievements of LAP for diamond.

Initial Final Polishing

roughness roughness Wavelength Intensity pressure Material
Diamond Ra Ra Laser type (nm) (mW cm−2 ) (MPa) removal rate References

SCD substrate 1.35 nm 0.19 nm UV laser — — 1.0 4.71 nm h−1 [47]

SCD substrate 1.04 nm 0.21 nm UV laser 200–400 300 1.0 0.50 nm h−1 [48]
SCD substrate 4.673 nm 0.133 nm Vacuum UV laser 172 6.0 2.2 238.1 nm h−1 [52]
CVD diamond film — 0.35 nm UV laser 172 3.4 — 0.56 nm h−1 [48]
PCD substrate 30.0 nm 5 nm UV laser 172 3.4 1.0 2.0 µm h−1 [48]

Table 7. Summary of characteristics of various polishing technologies for diamond.

Technology LP IBP PAP LAP

Contact method Non-contact Non-contact Contact Contact

MRR >0.001 mm3 s−1 , <2 µm h−1 1–15 µm h−1 <2 µm h−1
24.19 µm h−1
SCD: Ra 8 nm; SCD: Ra 0.1–2 nm; SCD: Ra < 0.3 nm
Surface quality SCD: Ra < 0.5 nm
PCD: Ra 0.03–1.3 µm PCD: Ra 0.01–1 µm PCD: Ra 0.3–5 nm
Cost Low High Very high Very high
Applicable objects SCD, PCD (CVD diamond SCD, PCD (CVD diamond SCD SCD, PCD, CVD diamond
film) film) film
Advantages High MRR, curved surface High polishing accuracy, High accuracy, high MRR, High accuracy, low damage
polishing, low cost curved surface polishing, low damage, polishing
microstructure polishing large-sized diamond
substrates
Disadvantages Low polishing accuracy, High cost, low MRR High cost, complex High cost, complex
thermal damage equipment equipment, low MRR

of thermal ablation can cause thermal cracks and other dam-
age to the diamond surface. Consequently, LP technology is
mainly used for polishing CVD diamond films and for sur-
face dressing of diamond tools that are difficult to machine
using traditional polishing methods. As a non-contact polish-
ing technology, IBP is not limited by the surface morpho-
logy of materials and is suitable for polishing various hard
and brittle materials. FIB has been widely used for polish-
ing diamond films, but the MRR is low due to the small size
of the ion beam. Higher ion energy may increase the polish-
ing efficiency, but it can cause serious surface damage. Over
the recent years, several researchers have proposed to reduce
the damage of IBP by changing the incidence angle of the
ion beam and using appropriate chemical reagents. However,
the complicated ion beam generator and expensive equip-
ment are the main technical bottlenecks that restrict the devel-
opment of IBP technology. As an efficient, high-precision,
and nondestructive polishing technology of diamond, PAP has
great development prospects. However, the complex equip-
ment and high production cost limit its widespread applica-
tion. Therefore, further research is needed to reduce the cost
of the PAP equipment. Additionally, the PAP method is cur-
rently primarily used for polishing SCD surfaces and has not
been utilized to polish PCD surfaces yet. Compared to PAP,
LAP has successfully been used for surface polishing of SCD,
PCD, and CVD diamond film, and it has a broader application
prospect. However, the high manufacturing cost of equipment
restricts its practical application.
4. Material removal mechanism of energy
beam-based direct and assisted polishing
techniques for diamond
4.1. Material removal mechanism of LP
Wang et al [96] obtained the surface Raman spectra of CVD
diamond films before and after LP and found an obvious
graphite peak on the polished diamond film surface. During
the LP process, diamond undergoes a series of transforma-
tions, such as heat absorption, vaporization, and graphitiza-
tion. Consequently, a residual graphite layer is formed on the
surface [125], but this layer can be easily removed by hydro-
gen atoms, ensuring that the diamond surface meets the neces-
sary application requirements [126]. Liu et al [39] examined
the impact of laser scanning frequency on the graphite layer
of SCD surfaces. Figure 11 shows the morphological changes
and Raman spectra of the graphite layer with the increase
in laser scans. As seen in figure 11(a), two distinct layers
appear on the cross-section after two laser scans, with the
upper layer (Zone-B) being a laser graphitized layer and the
lower layer (Zone-A) being a diamond layer, which is con-
firmed by the Raman spectra in figure 11(d). The depth of the
graphitized layer gradually decreases with increase in num-
ber of laser scans, as depicted in figures 11(a)–(c), and the
layer is completely eliminated after 40 scans. The two broad
peaks corresponding to D and G bands at 1359 and 1590 cm−1 ,
respectively, in figure 11(e) represent the graphite phase on

15
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 11. Cross-sectional SEM images and Raman spectra of the laser polished CVD diamond. (a)–(c) Cross-sectional SEM images of the
sample at different laser scan numbers: (a) 2, (b) 12, and (c) 40; (d) Raman spectra at zones A and B of the cross-section, as shown in figure
(a); (e) Raman spectra under different numbers of laser scans. [39] John Wiley & Sons. © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Figure 12. Cross-sectional TEM images of the ablation region by nanosecond near-infrared laser: (a) NPD and (b) SCD; cross-sectional
TEM images of femtosecond laser ablation region: (c) NPD and (d) SCD, (e) Raman spectra of the ablated region of diamond [127].
Reproduced from [127], with permission from Springer Nature.

the diamond surface. Notably, the graphite phase decreases
with the increase in number of scans after the 8th laser scan.
Therefore, the material removal mechanism of LP is the high-
energy laser beam ablation that graphitizes the diamond sur-
face, followed by multiple laser ablation processes that remove
the graphitized layer.
Okuchi et al [127] studied the ablation mechanism of nano-
polycrystalline diamond (NPD) and SCD by nanosecond near-
UV laser and femtosecond laser. Figures 12(a) and (b) show
the TEM images of the ablation region profiles of NPD and
SCD after nanosecond near-UV laser ablation, and figure 12(e)
show the corresponding Raman spectra. It can be seen that
there is an obvious graphitization layer on the surface of
NPD and SCD after nanosecond laser ablation. According to
figures 12(c) and (d), there is no obvious graphitization layer
on the diamond surface after femtosecond laser ablation. There
are only diamond peaks in the Raman spectrum of the diamond
surface ablated by femtosecond laser, as shown in figure 12(e).
Due to the low thermal impact depth and high efficiency of
femtosecond laser ablation, the graphitization efficiency of the
diamond surface during femtosecond laser ablation is lower
than the ablation rate, so the graphitization layer is removed

16
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
Figure 13. Polishing quality and machining mechanism of IBP for diamond. AFM images of the SCD surface after etching for (a) 60 min
and (b) 150 min; (c) C1s XPS spectra of the SCD before and after etching (for 60 min and 150 min, corresponding to figures (a) and (b));
(d) high-resolution O1s XPS spectra of the SCD before and after etching [50]. Reprinted from [50], Copyright (2022), with permission from
Elsevier.
during the ablation process. These results indicate that the
removal mechanism of PCD and SCD by laser ablation is
basically the same, both of which are laser irradiation to graph-
itize their surfaces and then ablation to remove the graphite
layer.
4.2. Material removal mechanism of IBP
IBP utilizes inert gas ion clusters or active plasma plume
to impact material surfaces at high speed, eliminating dif-
ferences in the surface curvature and redistributing surface
quality [128]. This physical bombardment method is suitable
for polishing various hard and brittle materials. During the pro-
cess, ions penetrate the diamond surface, colliding with atoms
inside the diamond, gradually softening the surface and heat-
ing and sublimating diamond lattice atoms due to the kinetic
energy and ionization of the ions.
Zheng et al [50] treated CVD SCD with uniform under-
ground cracking using hydrogen plasma. The chemical bond
changes on the surface of SCD during the etching process were
detected by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the
etching mechanism of SCD was explored. It can be seen in
figures 13(a) and (b) that the surface roughness of SCD sig-
nificantly decreases as the etching time increases from 60 to
150 min. As shown in figure 13(c), there is an obvious sp3
peak at 284.9 eV in the C1s XPS spectrum before and after
etching, which is mainly attributed to C–C/C–H bonds. There
are also single oxidation CІ peaks (C–O–H, C–O–C, C–O–
O–C) and double oxidation CII peaks (C=O, O–C–O) in the
XPS spectrum before etching. These two peaks are mainly
caused by adventitious carbon or strong acid cleaning. Further,
a sp2 hybrid peak appears in the XPS spectrum after 60 min
of hydrogen plasma etching, which is mainly caused by α-C
deposited on the surface of diamond. After 150 min of etching,
17
Topical Review
the intensity of the sp2 hybrid peak decreases significantly.
This indicates that the deposited α-C can be removed by
hydrogen plasma etching to obtain high-quality SCD surfaces
under sufficient etching time. According to figure 13(d), the
two carbon-oxygen binding bonds before etching are also
eliminated after etching. The strength of the sp3 (C–C/C–H)
bond in figure 13(c) is enhanced after etching. This indicates
that hydrogenation removal is likely to be the main mechanism
for the removal of oxidized carbon and α-C on the diamond
surface by hydrogen plasma etching.
Ma et al [53] etched CVD diamond films with ECR plasma
under an asymmetric magnetic mirror field to detect morpho-
logical changes on the film surface during etching and analyze
the material removal mechanism during polishing. As shown
in figure 14(a), the crystal shape and edges of the diamond
film are clear before etching. However, as etching progresses,
the original conical crystal gradually sinks and becomes blunt,
leaving only small protruding fragments on the film surface
after four hours of etching. The surface roughness Ra of dia-
mond films decreases from 3.1 µm to 1.1 µm during the etch-
ing process. The Raman spectra of the CVD diamond films
at different etching stages are shown in figure 14(e). The sp3 -
diamond bond peak is centered at 1332 cm−1 , and a wide peak
appears at 1430 cm−1 as etching proceeds. Weima et al [129]
pointed out that this peak corresponds to sp2 hybrid amorphous
carbon, indicating that high-energy ion bombardment gradu-
ally transforms the diamond phase into a graphite structure,
resulting in smaller grain size on the film surface, sinking of
the conical crystal, and lower roughness. However, it can be
seen in figure 14(d) that graphite still exists on the surface of
the etched diamond film. This is because the ablation rate of
ECR plasma in this experiment is lower than the graphitization
rate of diamond, so there is residual graphite on the surface
after etching.
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 14. SEM images of diamond film at different etching stages: (a) before etching, (b) after 1 h etching, (c) after 2 h etching, and (d)
after 4 h etching; (e) Raman spectra at different etching stages [53]. Reprinted from [53], Copyright (2014), with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 15. Device and polishing effect of PAP on SiC. (a) Schematic of PAP for SiC [131]. Reproduced with permission from [131]. (b)
Cross-sectional TEM image of SiC surface modified by plasma using water vapor as the reaction gas [132]. Reprinted from [132], with the
permission of AIP Publishing. (c) Hardness of SiC before and after surface modification [133]. Reproduced from [133], with permission
from Springer Nature.

4.3. Material removal mechanism of PAP
Since the emergence of PAP technology, its material removal
mechanism has received considerable research attention. Deng
and Ji et al [130, 131] proposed the principle of PAP for SiC.
As shown in figure 15, the SiC surface is first irradiated with
atmospheric plasma. The free radicals in the plasma react with
the surface atoms of SiC to form a modified layer with lower
hardness. The modified layer is then removed by polishing
with a soft abrasive plate. The chemical modification of the
plasma and the friction removal of the polishing plate proceed
synchronously, resulting in a smooth surface at the atomic
level without damage. To explore the modification effect of
plasma on SiC surface, Deng et al [132] obtained the cross-
sectional TEM image of plasma-modified SiC surface using
water vapor as the reaction gas. As shown in figure 15(b),

18
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
Figure 16. Material removal mechanism of ICP-enhanced PAP of diamonds. (a) Polishing process; (b)–(d) main photoelectron and Auger
signals, and deconvoluted spectra of (b) C1s, (c) O1s, and (d) Si2p [51]. Reprinted from [51], Copyright (2021), with permission from
Elsevier.
a modified layer with a thickness of approximately 80 nm
appears on the surface of SiC, and the main component of
the modified layer has been transformed into SiO2 with lower
hardness. According to the hardness test results in figure 15(c),
the surface hardness of plasma-modified SiC is far lower than
the original hardness [133]. This phenomenon confirms the
speculated mechanism in figure 15(a).
However, the material removal mechanism of PAP for dia-
mond is inconsistent with that for SiC. Currently, research-
ers mainly believe that the material removal mechanism of
PAP for diamond is plasma-induced oxidation of the polished
plate surface, chemical reaction on the contact interface, and
abrasion of the contact interface. Peguiron et al [134] pro-
posed a SiO2 weakening model to explain the material removal
mechanism of PAP for SCD with quartz glass as the polishing
plate. The binding energy of the C–C bond can be weakened
when silicon dioxide and diamond are ground together. Si–
C and O–C bonds, with higher strength than the weakened
C–C bond, can be generated at the diamond/silica interface.
The adsorption between Si–C bonds and the relative motion
between the polishing plate and diamond can remove the C
atoms, thereby polishing diamond. The surface of the quartz
glass plate of the polishing pad is illuminated by plasma during
the PAP process. The O-removed silicon atoms on the quartz
glass surface can be rapidly oxidized by the O atoms gen-
erated by Ar-based oxygen plasma, achieving a high MRR.
Luo et al [51] fabricated a device for PAP of diamond and
used atmospheric ICP to modify the silicon plates for efficient
SCD polishing. Figure 16(a) shows a schematic of the polish-
ing process. High-temperature ICP generates a large amount
of OH radicals (–OH), which adhere to the surface of the sil-
icon plate. The modified silicon plate transfers –OH to the dia-
mond surface. High-temperature plasma rapidly increases the
temperature of the contact interface between the silicon plate
and diamond to several hundred degrees, providing sufficient
activation energy for the repair of chemical bonds. –OH under-
goes dehydration and condensation reactions at the polishing
19
Topical Review
interface, forming chemical bonds such as C–C, C–O, Si–O,
and C–O–Si. Luo et al [51] detected three main strong peaks
of C1s, O1s, and Si2p on the polished diamond surface by
XPS technology. As shown in figures 16(b)–(d), the chemical
bonds corresponding to the three main strong peak areas are
consistent with those described in the material removal mech-
anism diagram in figure 16(a). As Si is softer than diamond,
the stripped Si fragments adhere to the diamond surface dur-
ing grinding. Therefore, Si–Si and Si–O bonds are also detec-
ted on the polished diamond surface. Generally, the C1s region
determines the change in the surface chemical properties dur-
ing diamond polishing. According to figure 16(b), the bind-
ing energy of the C–C bond is relatively weak [135]. In addi-
tion, –OH is easily adsorbed on the protrusion of the diamond
substrate, and the bonding energy at this position is relatively
weak, so it can be easily removed by chemical mechanical
action. Therefore, the C atoms on the diamond surface are
removed under the shear friction effect of the two surfaces.
MP can cause scratches or damage on the machined surface
[30]. Although CMP offers low damage processing, its MRR
is too low [33]. Additionally, the obvious anisotropy of the
material removal process of CMP leads to weak flattening abil-
ity at the atomic scale [35]. By contrast, the plasma in PAP only
modifies the polishing plate, and material removal primarily
depends on the chemical reaction and abrasion at the con-
tact interface between the polishing plate and the diamond.
As a result, PAP combines the advantages of MP and CMP
to achieve efficient and high-quality surface polishing.
4.4. Material removal mechanism of LAP
Watanabe et al [48] believed that UV LAP of SCD is a
mechanochemical polishing method (MCP) combined with a
UV light-induced photochemical reaction. Kubota and Takita
[52] suggested that the interaction between the active sub-
stances and diamond substrate is the main reason for the
high MRR of LAP. They explained the material removal
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
Figure 17. Material removal mechanism of LAP for diamond. (a)–(d) Schematic of material removal mechanism in VUV-assisted polishing;
(e)–(g) XPS C1s spectra of the diamond surfaces: (e) pre-polished diamond surface, (f) polished diamond surface without VUV irradiation,
and (g) polished diamond surface with VUV irradiation [52]. Reprinted from [52], Copyright (2018), with permission from Elsevier.
mechanism of VUV-assisted polishing of diamond, as shown
in figure 17(a). The polishing plate surface becomes super-
hydrophilic after being irradiated by 172 nm VUV light and
is covered by Al–OH bond groups. The modified polishing
plate comes into contact with the diamond, and the active –
OH covers the diamond surface. As shown in figure 17(b), –H
and –OH combine to release a water molecule, resulting in a
C–O–Al bond (see figure 17(c)). The binding energy of the
C–O–Al bond is higher than that of the C–C bond. In the last
step, as shown in figure 17(d), with the rotation of the pol-
ishing disc, the C–C bond is broken, and the C atom on the
diamond surface is removed. To confirm that laser can induce
oxidative removal on the diamond surface, Kubota and Takita
[52] measured the XPS spectra of the C1s region of the dia-
mond surface, and the results are shown in figures 17(e)–(g).
A weak peak appears at 287.4 eV on the polished diamond
surface after being irradiated by a VUV laser, which corres-
ponds to the C=O bond. However, there are no such peaks on
the polished diamond surface without VUV laser irradiation
and the pre-polished diamond surface. This indicates that the
VUV laser irradiation can induce oxidative removal on dia-
mond surfaces.
The material removal mechanisms of PAP and LAP are
similar as both methods utilize an energy beam to induce
hydrophilicity on the surface of the polishing plate. Then, the
diamond is ground through a modified polishing plate con-
taining an active –OH group to remove the C atoms from the
surface.
5. Influencing factors of energy beam-based direct
and assisted polishing techniques for diamond
5.1. Influencing factors of LP
5.1.1. Laser type. Over the recent years, numerous lasers
have been used for diamond processing, including pulsed
excimer [136], Nd-YAG [137], XeCl [138], and ArF [139]
lasers. Short-pulse lasers are especially effective in achiev-
ing high-precision and sharp profiles while minimizing heat
20
Topical Review
conduction into the bulk material [140]. Femtosecond pulses
and an accelerating beam can be used to achieve curved
profiles with micron-sized curvatures. However, nanosecond
pulsed lasers can cause four types of damage: cracking, ripple
formation, groove shape deformation, and debris deposition.
These are caused by rapid temperature changes, laser reflec-
tion from groove walls, enhanced plasma absorption, and two
different ablation regimes, respectively [141]. Ascarelli et al
[126] compared the effects of nanosecond near-infrared, nano-
second near-UV, and femtosecond near-infrared pulsed laser
processing on the surface of NPD. The findings revealed that
infrared laser processing resulted in a rough surface, while
UV and femtosecond laser processing produced satisfactory
surface quality. Ogawa et al [97] compared the ablation qual-
ity of nanosecond and femtosecond lasers on PCD surfaces,
and the corresponding results are shown in figure 18. It can
be seen that the femtosecond laser is able to directly produce
high-quality diamond surfaces with a roughness Ra of only
0.16 µm. However, there is significant residual graphite on
the surface of diamond after nanosecond LP when the power
difference is not significant. In addition, the MRR of femto-
second laser processing is better than that of nanosecond laser
processing.
5.1.2. Processing parameters of laser. The intensity range
of Nd-YAG lasers (106–107 W cm−2 ) is sufficient to vapor-
ize diamonds and generate holes [142]. Beam parameters
such as current, repetition frequency, feed velocity, spot dia-
meter, and scanning speed affect the ablation quality and MRR
[143]. The incident direction of the laser beam also affects
this process significantly. When the beam is incident along
the <100> crystal direction, laser-induced structural modi-
fications prefer to propagate along the {111} planes when
using visible and near-infrared ultra-short laser pulses [144–
146]. Based on this property, a nanosecond-pulsed visible
laser was used to obtain (111) planes of SCD by nucleat-
ing and propagating a mechanical cleave in the (111) plane.
The obtained (111) planes showed atomically smooth sur-
faces and low kerf loss [147]. Additionally, the formation
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
Figure 18. Machined surfaces obtained by normal irradiation of (a) nanosecond pulse laser (NSPL; average power: 6 W) and (b)
femtosecond pulsed laser (FSPL; average power: 5 W); comparison of average surface roughness Ra and MRR by (c) NSPL and (d) FSPL
(pulse pitch: 2 µm constant) [97]. Reprinted from [97], Copyright (2016), with permission from Elsevier.
and morphology of bulk microstructures showed significant
differences when the incident direction of the laser beam was
changed from <100> to <110>, showing a higher break-
down threshold due to laser power depletion [148]. Komlenok
et al [149] used femtosecond and nanosecond lasers to pol-
ish PCD plates with a roughness Ra of 5 µm and studied the
effects of incidence angle, laser flux, scanning times, and scan-
ning speed on the surface roughness. The experimental results
showed that the surface roughness decreased with an increase
in laser flux and scanning times when the incidence angle was
constant, while the effect of scanning speed on the roughness
was not significant. Prieske and Vollertsen [101] used a pico-
second laser (wavelength: 515 nm, repetition rate: 200 kHz)
to polish CVD diamond coating and studied the effect of laser
flux and processing times on the polishing quality. As shown
in figures 19(a)–(c), the sharp edges on the CVD diamond
coating surface are removed by ablation when the laser flux
increases from 0.31 to 0.52 J cm−2 , and the surface quality is
significantly improved. As shown in figures 19(d)–(f), the sur-
face roughness Ra of CVD diamond decreases from 1.85 to
0.51 µm when the number of laser processing increases from
0 to 4. Wang et al [96] used a 248 nm pulsed excimer laser
(wavelength: 248 nm, repetition rate: 20 Hz) to polish CVD
diamond films and studied the effect of laser incidence angle
on the polishing quality. As shown in figures 19(g)–(i), the
RMS surface roughness of the diamond film reduces from 2.73
21
Topical Review
to 2.02 µm when the laser incidence angle increases from 60◦
to 80◦ . This indicates that within a certain range, the polishing
quality of diamond improves with the increase in laser flux,
scanning times, and incidence angle.
5.2. Influencing factors of IBP
5.2.1. Crystal orientation. The anisotropy of SCD can sig-
nificantly affect the etching quality of diamond surface using
ion beam techniques. Naamoun et al [150] investigated the
impact of crystal orientation on the shape of etch pits formed
on the diamond surface using H2 /O2 plasma. As shown in
figures 20(a) and (b), etching along the <100> direction res-
ults in a rough surface with macro steps, and the minimum
surface roughness Ra is 186 nm. Conversely, figures 20(c) and
(d) demonstrate that etching along the <110> direction pro-
duces a smooth surface without pits, with a minimum surface
roughness of Ra 15 nm.
5.2.2. Parameters of ion beams. The incidence angle and
ion dose are the main ion beam parameters that affect the pol-
ishing quality. Sato et al [116] used an Ar+ -ion beam (1 keV)
to grind the edges of PCD-coated tools and found that the
surface roughness Ra decreased from 40 to 20 nm with an
increase in the ion dose. Nagase et al [117] irradiated an SCD
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 19. Influence of processing parameters on the polishing effect of LP for diamond. (a)–(c) Confocal laser images of CVD diamond
surface ablated by different laser fluences (1 polishing process, incidence angle: 80◦ ); (d)–(f) SEM images of CVD diamond surface under
different scanning times (laser flux: 1.81 J·cm−2 , incidence angle: 80◦ ) [101]. Reprinted from [101], Copyright (2021), with permission
from Elsevier. (g)–(i) SEM images of diamond film surface at different laser incidence angles (laser flux: 13.3 J·cm−2 ) [96]. Reproduced
with permission from [96].

wafer with a 1 keV Ar ion beam at incidence angles of 0◦ , 30◦ ,
45◦ , 60◦ , and 80◦ to study the effects of incidence angle and
ion dose on the polishing quality. As shown in figures 21(a)–
(f), the polishing quality is maximum when the incidence
angle is less than 30◦ , and the RMS surface roughness can
reach 0.10 nm. The polishing quality gradually decreases as
the incidence angle increases from 45◦ to 80◦ . As shown
in figures 21(g)–(i), the RMS surface roughness of diamond
gradually decreases from 1.21 to 0.1 nm with the increase in
ion dose from 3.6 × 1018 to 6.8 × 1018 ions cm−2 , indicat-
ing that the polishing quality of diamond can be improved by
appropriately increasing the ion dose.
is mainly chemical reaction, thereby avoiding the anisotropic
effects of mechanical removal. However, Watanabe et al [48]
found that the anisotropy of SCD affects the polishing qual-
ity of UV LAP for diamond. It was observed that the surface
roughness Ra of the (100) surface of SCD reached 0.21 nm
after 60 min of polishing, while that of the (111) surface of
SCD was only 0.34 nm after 270 min of polishing. These res-
ults confirm that the anisotropy of SCD influences the polish-
ing quality of LAP. Overall, when using PAP or LAP to polish
the SCD, there is no obvious quality difference in different
crystal directions on the same crystal plane, but the roughness
of different crystal planes can be different.

5.3. Influencing factors of PAP and LAP

5.3.1. Crystal orientation. The anisotropy of SCD usually
affects the polishing quality of PAP and LAP. Luo et al [51]
obtained the AFM images in different directions on the SCD
(100) surface after PAP. As shown in figure 22, there is no obvi-
ous difference in the interface profile from 0◦ to 90◦ , which
indicates that the anisotropy of SCD has no evident effect
on the material removal process of PAP for diamond. This is
because the material removal mechanism of PAP for diamond
5.3.2. Type of reaction gas. The type of reaction gas can
also affect the MRR of PAP. Many types of gases can be used
as the reaction gas for PAP, but the oxidizing strength of free
radicals generated by the ionization of different gases varies.
Deng et al [130, 131] used optical emission spectroscopy to
compare the free radicals in two plasmas when the reaction gas
was either water vapor or O2 . As illustrated in figures 23(a) and
(b), a strong signal of OH radicals (λ = 309 nm) is observed
when water vapor is used as the reaction gas [151], and a strong

22
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 20. Optical microscopy images after H2 /O2 plasma treatment. (a) Sample with 20◦ offset and (b) sample with 10◦ offset along the
<100> direction; (c) sample with 10◦ offset and (d) sample with 20◦ offset along the <110> direction. [150] John Wiley & Sons. © 2012
WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Figure 21. Influence of processing parameters on the polishing effect of IBP. (a) AFM image of unprocessed diamond surface; (b)–(f) AFM
images of the surface processed by ion beam with energy of 1 keV and ion dose of 6.8 × 1018 ions·cm−2 at incidence angles of 0◦ , 30◦ , 45◦ ,
60◦ , and 80◦ ; (g)–(j) AFM images under different ion doses at an incidence angle of 30◦ [117]. Reproduced with permission from [117].

23
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 22. Surface quality and cross-sectional profile of SCD after PAP. (a) AFM image of SCD (100) surface after PAP, (b)–(e) sectional
profile at different angles [51]. Reprinted from [51], Copyright (2021), with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 23. Optical emission spectra of plasma: (a) Water vapor-containing plasma, (b) oxygen- containing plasma. (c) Experimental device
for ball-disk friction test, and (d) experimental results [131]. Reproduced with permission from [131].

signal of O free radicals (λ = 777 nm and λ = 845 nm) is
observed when the reaction gas is O2 [152]. In addition, Deng
[130] studied the effect of the oxidation of water vapor and O2
on the MRR through ball-disk friction experiments. As shown
in figure 23(d), the MRR of SiC surface with water vapor as
the reaction gas is significantly higher than that with O2 as
the reaction gas. Since the oxidation potential of OH radicals
(2.80 V) is greater than that of O radicals (2.42 V) [131], the
MRR with water vapor as the reaction gas is higher than that
with O2 as the reaction gas.
5.3.3. Polishing plate. It has been confirmed that the polish-
ing quality of PAP is affected by the material of the polishing
plate, rotation speed of the polishing plate, and contact pres-
sure. Yamamura et al [123] investigated the impact of differ-
ent types of polishing plate on the quality of PAP-processed
SCD under argon plasma radiation with water vapor. Using a
quartz glass polishing plate, the minimum surface roughness
Sq was achieved to be 0.4 nm, while using sapphire polishing
plate, it was 0.13 nm. Liu et al [119] examined the influence
of polishing pressure and rotation speed of the polishing plate

24
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
(a)
240 rpm, Sq: 0.30 nm 320 rpm, Sq: 0.31 nm
1 <100>
<100>
nm
−1
400 rpm, Sq: 0.27 nm
20 µm
Crystallographic direction <100>
(c) 1.5
Roughness Sq/nm
1.0
0.5 246.9 kPa
62.5 kPa
0 0
0 80 160 240 320 400 480
Rotation speed of polishing plate/rpm
Figure 24. Effect of polishing pressure and rotation speed on the polishing quality of PAP. SWLI (84 µm2 ) images taken from SCD
substrate after PAP with different rotation speeds of polishing plate at polishing pressures of (a) 62.5 kPa and (b) 246.9 kPa; influence of
polishing pressure and rotation speed of polishing plate on the (c) surface roughness and (d) MRR of SCD substrate [119]. Reprinted from
[119], Copyright (2022), with permission from Elsevier.
on the polishing quality. As illustrated in figures 24(a) and (b),
the diamond surface after PAP exhibits grooves in the <100>
direction with a change in sliding speed at a polishing pressure
of 246.9 kPa, whereas no grooves are observed on the diamond
surface at a polishing pressure of 62.5 kPa. In conjunction with
figure 24(c), it can be inferred that the average roughness Sq of
the diamond surface increases with an increase in the polish-
ing pressure. The rotation speed of the polishing plate has no
apparent effect on the surface quality of diamond processed by
PAP. Figure 24(d) shows that the MRR of PAP increases with
the rise in polishing pressure and plate rotation speed.
Due to its high similarity to the equipment and material
removal mechanism of PAP and LAP, the factors that affect
PAP also have an impact on LAP. Therefore, the material and
rotation speed of the polishing plate as well as the contact pres-
sure affect the polishing quality of LAP.
5.3.4. Polishing time. The irradiation of plasma and laser
can introduce some small peaks and valleys, and the mech-
anical grinding effect of polishing plate also leaves scratches
on the diamond surface. Therefore, during the early stage of
the polishing process, the surface of diamond is rough. When
the polishing time is sufficient, the polishing quality of PAP
and LAP can meet the application requirements. Luo et al
Topical Review
(b)
160 rpm, Sq: 0.99 nm 240 rpm, Sq: 0.96 nm
2
nm
−2
320 rpm, Sq: 0.83 nm 400 rpm, Sq: 0.81 nm
20 µm
Crystallographic direction <100>
(d) 8
246.9 kPa
MRR/(µm·h−1)
6 62.5 kPa
4
2
0 80 160 240 320 400 480
Rotation speed of polishing plate/rpm
[51] studied the change in the surface roughness with polish-
ing time during the PAP of SCD. As shown in figure 25(a),
the surface roughness Sa of SCD is greater than 30 nm before
40 min. After polishing for 120 min, the surface roughness
Sa of SCD reaches 0.86 nm. This shows that the polishing
time has a significant impact on the polishing quality of PAP.
Watanabe et al [48] studied the change in the surface rough-
ness of PCD with polishing time during the UV LAP pro-
cess of PCD. As shown in figure 25(b), the surface roughness
of PCD substrates with different grains gradually decreases
with the increase in the UV polishing time. This confirms that
the polishing time has a significant influence on the polish-
ing quality of LAP, and the surface accuracy of PCD substrate
can meet the requirements only when the polishing time is
sufficient.
Table 8 summarizes the influencing factors of various
energy beam-based direct and assisted polishing technologies.
The main influencing factors of LP are laser type, laser para-
meters, and incidence angle. The influencing factors of IBP are
crystal orientation, type of ion beams, ion dose, ion beam para-
meters, and incidence angle. The influencing factors of PAP
and LAP are anisotropy of SCD, laser or plasma type, type
of reaction gas, material of polishing plate, rotation speed of
polishing plate, polishing time, and contact pressure.
25
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004 Topical Review

Figure 25. Effect of polishing time on the polishing quality of PAP and LAP. (a) Variation in the surface roughness with the polishing time
during PAP [51]. Reprinted from [51], Copyright (2021), with permission from Elsevier. (b) Effect of UV polishing time on the surface
roughness Ra of PCD substrates with different diamond grains [48]. Reprinted from [48], Copyright (2013), with permission from Elsevier.

Table 8. Influencing factors of various diamond polishing technologies.

Technology LP IBP PAP and LAP

Influencing factors Laser type, laser parameters, Crystal orientation, type of ion Anisotropy of SCD, laser or plasma type, type of
incidence angle beams, ion dose, parameters of ion reaction gas, material of polishing plate, rotation
beams, incidence angle speed of polishing plate, polishing time, contact
pressure

6. Conclusions and outlooks
The unique physical and chemical properties of diamond make
it a promising material in various fields, including semicon-
ductor, optical, and precision machining. The surface polish-
ing of SCD is particularly crucial for its practical applica-
tions, while the polishing of PCD tools and CVD diamond
films is important for precision manufacturing. Energy beam
polishing technology offers a promising solution, overcom-
ing limitations of traditional polishing methods with enhanced
efficiency and quality. Figure 26 summarizes the polishing
effect, advantages, and disadvantages of energy beam polish-
ing methods for diamond. Overall, this study provided a com-
prehensive review on the recent progress, material removal
mechanisms, and influencing factors of various energy beam-
based direct and assisted polishing technologies for SCD and
PCD. The current key research focuses can be summarized as
follows:
(a) MRR. As the hardest material in the nature, machin-
ing diamond is extremely difficult and time-consuming.
Increasing the MRR can effectively reduce the processing
costs. LP has the highest MRR among the energy beam
polishing technologies, typically ranging from tens to hun-
dreds of microns per hour. PAP has the second highest
MRR, typically up to 10 µm h−1 . By contrast, IBP and
LAP have the lowest MRR, usually less than 2 µm h−1 .
(b) Surface quality. For SCD, LP can cause thermal damage
on the diamond surface and is only suitable for processing
surfaces with a surface roughness of tens of nanometers.
By contrast, IBP, PAP, and LAP can produce ultra-high
precision surfaces with Ra below 0.5 nm. The CVD dia-
mond films usually have an original roughness of sev-
eral microns, much larger than that of SCD surfaces.
Consequently, diamond films are typically polished using
LP and IBP, and their surface roughness can reach tens to
hundreds of nanometers.
(c) Processing method. PAP and LAP are both contact and
energy beam assisted polishing technologies. The corres-
ponding polishing tools need to contact the sample surface
and are usually only used for plane polishing. LP and IBP
are non-contact and direct energy beam polishing tech-
nologies. The polishing tool does not need to contact the
sample surface and can be used for planar and curved pol-
ishing of diamonds.
(d) Cost assessment. LP has low costs due to simple equip-
ment and low processing environment requirements. LP
is usually used for efficient polishing of SCD substrates
and CVD diamond films due to its excellent polishing effi-
ciency. IBP, PAP, and LAP are typically only used for pro-
cessing ultra-high precision diamond components due to
their complex equipment and processing environment as
well as high costs.
(e) Influencing factors. The main influencing factors of LP
and IBP are the type of energy beams, energy beam flux,
incidence angle of the energy beam, and the anisotropy of
SCD. The main influencing factors of PAP and LAP are
the plasma or laser type, type of reaction gas, material of
polishing plate, rotation speed of polishing plate, polishing
time, contact pressure, and the anisotropy of SCD.

26
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
Figure 26. Polishing effect of various energy beam polishing technologies.
(f) As a relatively new polishing technology, PAP causes less
mechanical and chemical damages, and it can achieve
high-efficiency and high-quality polishing of large-sized
diamond substrates. However, the expensive equipment
is the main reason that restricts the development of this
technology.
The main limitations and future development directions
of energy beam-based direct and assisted polishing diamond
technologies are as follows:
(a) Presently, the surface roughness obtained by LP is very
limited. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the surface
quality of LP-polished diamond by selecting a reason-
able laser type or adjusting the laser and processing
parameters.
(b) The MRR of IBP is low, and the mechanical impact of
the ion beam can easily damage the diamond surface.
Therefore, improving the MRR and reducing the sur-
face damage of IBP by optimizing the parameters and
27
Topical Review
incidence angle of ion beams should be given consider-
able attention. In addition, obtaining high-quality diamond
surface by using radioactive ion beam, FIB, ICP, or ECR
plasma treatment is an important research direction in the
field of IBP.
(c) Although both PAP and LAP have extremely high pol-
ishing accuracy, their MRR is limited. The MRR of PAP
and LAP can be effectively improved by changing the
type of reaction gas and increasing the oxidation rate of
the diamond surface. Additionally, the surface roughness
and MRR can be improved by adjusting the rotation speed
and contact pressure of the polishing disc. At present, the
high equipment cost is still an important factor restricting
the application of PAP and LAP in the diamond polishing
field. Therefore, reducing the cost by improving the equip-
ment structure can be of great practical significance.
(d) LP has high MRR, while IBP, PAP, and LAP have high
polishing accuracy. The combination of LP with IBP, PAP
or LAP technology to develop more efficient and high-
quality polishing techniques is of immense significance for
the high-precision machining of diamonds.
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
Acknowledgments
This research is sponsored by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Nos. 51835004, U22A20198), the
Major Science and Technology Projects in Henan Province
(221100230300) and the 111 Project (No. B23011)
Consent to participate
All authors agree to participate in this study.
Consent to publish
All authors agree to publish this paper.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests
ORCID iD
Feng Jiang  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4938-7798
References
[1] Cui Z P, Li G and Zong W J 2019 A polishing method for
single crystal diamond (100) plane based on nano silica
and nano nickel powder Diam. Relat. Mater. 95 141–53
[2] Anaya J et al 2016 Control of the in-plane thermal
conductivity of ultra-thin nanocrystalline diamond films
through the grain and grain boundary properties Acta
Mater. 103 141–52
[3] Hicks M L, Pakpour-Tabrizi A C and Jackman R B 2019
Polishing, preparation and patterning of diamond for
device applications Diam. Relat. Mater. 97 107424
[4] Mochalin V N, Shenderova O, Ho D and Gogotsi Y 2012
The properties and applications of nanodiamonds Nat.
Nanotechnol. 7 11–23
[5] Lu X Z, Chen J L, Wen Q L, Lu J and Jiang F 2021
Short-pulse laser-induced plasma micro-etching of
high-temperature and high pressure single crystal diamond
Acta Photon. Sin. 50 129–37
[6] Schuelke T and Grotjohn T A 2013 Diamond polishing
Diam. Relat. Mater. 32 17–26
[7] Zhu T-F et al 2017 Fabrication of monolithic diamond
photodetector with microlenses Opt. Express 25 31586–94
[8] Li P, Chen S Y, Dai H F, Yang Z M, Chen Z Q, Wang Y S,
Chen Y Q, Peng W Q, Shan W B and Duan H G 2021
Recent advances in focused ion beam nanofabrication for
nanostructures and devices: fundamentals and applications
Nanoscale 13 1529–65
[9] Mi S C, Kiss M, Graziosi T and Quack N 2020 Integrated
photonic devices in single crystal diamond J. Phys.
Photon. 2 042001
[10] Tao Y, Boss J M, Moores B A and Degen C L 2014
Single-crystal diamond nanomechanical resonators with
quality factors exceeding one million Nat. Commun.
5 3638
[11] Sohn Y I, Miller R, Venkataraman V and Lončar M 2017
Mechanical and optical nanodevices in single-crystal
quartz Appl. Phys. Lett. 111 263103
[12] Liao M Y 2021 Progress in semiconductor diamond
photodetectors and MEMS sensors Funct. Diam. 1 29–46
28
Topical Review
[13] Zong W J, Li Z Q, Sun T, Cheng K, Li D and Dong S 2010
The basic issues in design and fabrication of
diamond-cutting tools for ultra-precision and nanometric
machining Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf. 50 411–9
[14] Goel S, Luo X C, Agrawal A and Reuben R L 2015 Diamond
machining of silicon: a review of advances in molecular
dynamics simulation Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf.
88 131–64
[15] Chen K, Meng W J and Sinclair G B 2012 Size dependence
of the plane-strain response of single-crystal Al to
indentation by diamond wedges Acta Mater. 60 4879–87
[16] Bouzakis K D, Pappa M, Maliaris G and Michailidis N 2013
Fast determination of parameters describing
manufacturing imperfections and operation wear of
nanoindenter tips Surf. Coat. Technol. 215 218–23
[17] Roy S, Balla V K, Mallik A K, Ralchenko V G,
Bolshakov A P, Ashkinazi E E and Dandapat N 2018 A
comprehensive study of mechanical and
chemo-mechanical polishing of CVD diamond Mater.
Today Proc. 5 9846–54
[18] Lee S T, Lin Z and Jiang X 1999 CVD diamond films:
nucleation and growth Mater. Sci. Eng. R 25 123–54
[19] Thumm M 2011 Progress on gyrotrons for ITER and future
thermonuclear fusion reactors IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.
39 971–9
[20] Berman L E, Hastings J B, Siddons D P, Koike M,
Stojanoff V and Hart M 1993 Diamond crystal x-ray
optics for high-power-density synchrotron radiation
beams Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A
329 555–63
[21] Nebel C E, Rezek B and Shin D 2008 Electrochemical
properties of undoped diamond Physics and Applications
of CVD Diamond ed S Koizumi, C Nebel and M Nesladek
(Wiley) pp 93–127
[22] Koizumi S, Watanabe K, Hasegawa M and Kanda H 2001
Ultraviolet emission from a diamond pn junction Science
292 1899–901
[23] Tatsumi N, Harano K, Ito T and Sumiya H 2016 Polishing
mechanism and surface damage analysis of type IIa single
crystal diamond processed by mechanical and chemical
polishing methods Diam. Relat. Mater. 63 80–85
[24] Derry T E, Van Der Berg N and Makau N W 2008 Diamond
surfaces polished both mechanically and manually; an
atomic force microscopy (AFM) study Diam. Relat.
Mater. 17 127–36
[25] Williams O A, Douhéret O, Daenen M, Haenen K, Ōsawa E
and Takahashi M 2007 Enhanced diamond nucleation on
monodispersed nanocrystalline diamond Chem. Phys. Lett.
445 255–8
[26] Jin T Y, Ma M D, Li B Z, Gao Y F, Zhao Q L, Zhao Z S,
Chen J Y and Tian Y J 2020 Mechanical polishing of
ultrahard nanotwinned diamond via transition into hard
sp2 -sp3 amorphous carbon Carbon 161 1–6
[27] Zhang T, Jiang F, Huang H, Lu J, Wu Y Q, Jiang Z Y and
Xu X P 2021 Towards understanding the brittle–ductile
transition in the extreme manufacturing Int. J. Extrem.
Manuf. 3 022001
[28] Luo H, Ajmal K M, Liu W, Yamamura K and Deng H 2021
Polishing and planarization of single crystal diamonds:
state-of-the-art and perspectives Int. J. Extrem. Manuf.
3 022003
[29] Tolkowsky M 1920 Research on the Abrading, Grinding or
Polishing of Diamonds (University of London) (available
at: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.
538936)
[30] Doronin M A, Polyakov S N, Kravchuk K S, Molchanov S P,
Lomov A A, Troschiev S Y and Terentiev S A 2018 Limits
of single crystal diamond surface mechanical polishing
Diam. Relat. Mater. 87 149–55
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
[31] Zong W J, Cheng X and Zhang J J 2016 Atomistic origins of
material removal rate anisotropy in mechanical polishing
of diamond crystal Carbon 99 186–94
[32] Wang C Y, Zhang F L, Kuang T C and Chen C L 2006
Chemical/mechanical polishing of diamond films assisted
by molten mixture of LiNO3 and KNO3 Thin Solid Films
496 698–702
[33] Lin Y C, Lu J, Tong R L, Luo Q F and Xu X P 2018 Surface
damage of single-crystal diamond (100) processed based
on a sol-gel polishing tool Diam. Relat. Mater. 83 46–53
[34] Xu H Q, Zang J B, Tian P F, Yuan Y G, Wang Y H, Yu Y Q,
Lu J, Xu X P and Zhang P W 2018 Surface conversion
reaction and high efficient grinding of CVD diamond films
by chemically mechanical polishing Ceram. Int.
44 21641–7
[35] Nagai M, Nakanishi K, Takahashi H, Kato H, Makino T,
Yamasaki S, Matsumoto T, Inokuma T and Tokuda N
2018 Anisotropic diamond etching through
thermochemical reaction between Ni and diamond in
high-temperature water vapour Sci. Rep. 8 6687
[36] Yuan Z W, Jin Z J, Kang R K and Wen Q 2012
Tribochemical polishing CVD diamond film with FeNiCr
alloy polishing plate prepared by MA-HPS technique
Diam. Relat. Mater. 21 50–57
[37] Zheng Y T et al 2020 Subsurface cleavage of diamond after
high-speed three-dimensional dynamic friction polishing
Diam. Relat. Mater. 101 107600
[38] Konov V I 2012 Laser in micro and nanoprocessing of
diamond materials Laser Photonics Rev. 6 739–66
[39] Liu H G, Xie L R, Lin W X and Hong M H 2021 Optical
quality laser polishing of CVD diamond by UV pulsed
laser irradiation Adv. Opt. Mater. 9 2100537
[40] Kawabata Y, Taniguchi J and Miyamoto I 2004 XPS studies
on damage evaluation of single-crystal diamond chips
processed with ion beam etching and reactive ion beam
assisted chemical etching Diam. Relat. Mater. 13 93–98
[41] McGeough J A 1988 Advanced Methods of Machining
(Springer)
[42] Olsen R H, Aspinwall D K and Dewes R C 2004 Electrical
discharge machining of conductive CVD diamond tool
blanks J. Mater. Process. Technol. 155–156 1227–34
[43] Yuan Z J, Yao Y X, Zhou M and Bal Q S 2003 Lapping of
single crystal diamond tools CIRP Ann. 52 285–8
[44] Chen S T and Chen Y Y 2020 Microgroove grinding of
monocrystalline diamond using medium-frequency
vibration-assisted grinding with self-sensing grinding
force technique J. Mater. Process. Technol. 282 116686
[45] Deng H, Endo K and Yamamura K 2017 Damage-free
finishing of CVD-SiC by a combination of dry plasma
etching and plasma-assisted polishing Int. J. Mach. Tools
Manuf. 115 38–46
[46] Liu N, Sugawara K, Yoshitaka N, Yamada H, Takeuchi D,
Akabane Y, Fujino K, Kawai K, Arima K and
Yamamura K 2020 Damage-free highly efficient
plasma-assisted polishing of a 20-mm square large mosaic
single crystal diamond substrate Sci. Rep. 10 19432
[47] Anan S, Touge M, Kubota A and Watanabe J 2009 Study on
ultra precision polishing of single crystal diamond
substrates under ultraviolet irradiation Key Eng. Mater.
407–408 355–8
[48] Watanabe J, Touge M and Sakamoto T 2013
Ultraviolet-irradiated precision polishing of diamond and
its related materials Diam. Relat. Mater. 39 14–19
[49] Chen J L, Lu X Z, Wen Q L, Jiang F, Lu J, Lei D J and
Pan Y C 2021 Review on laser-induced etching processing
technology for transparent hard and brittle materials Int. J.
Adv. Manuf. Technol. 117 2545–64
[50] Zheng Y T et al 2022 Surface etching evolution of
mechanically polished single crystal diamond with
29
Topical Review
subsurface cleavage in microwave hydrogen plasma:
topography, state and electrical properties Vacuum
199 110932
[51] Luo H, Ajmal K M, Liu W, Yamamura K and Deng H 2021
Atomic-scale and damage-free polishing of single crystal
diamond enhanced by atmospheric pressure inductively
coupled plasma Carbon 182 175–84
[52] Kubota A and Takita T 2018 Novel planarization method of
single-crystal diamond using 172 nm vacuum-ultraviolet
light Precis. Eng. 54 269–75
[53] Ma Z B, Wu J, Shen W L, Yan L, Pan X and Wang J H 2014
Etching of CVD diamond films using oxygen ions in ECR
plasma Appl. Surf. Sci. 289 533–7
[54] Huang C, Peng X H, Yang B, Xiang H G, Sun S, Chen X,
Li Q B, Yin D Q and Fu T 2018 Anisotropy effects in
diamond under nanoindentation Carbon 132 606–15
[55] Xu C, Liu C M and Wang H K 2017 Incipient plasticity of
diamond during nanoindentation RSC Adv. 7 36093–100
[56] Richter A, Ries R, Smith R, Henkel M and Wolf B 2000
Nanoindentation of diamond, graphite and fullerene films
Diam. Relat. Mater. 9 170–84
[57] Hird J R and Field J E 2004 Diamond polishing Proc. R. Soc.
A 460 3547–68
[58] Kraus E H and Slawson C B 1939 Variation of hardness in
the diamond Am. Mineral. 24 661–76 (available at: http://
pubs.geoscienceworld.org/msa/ammin/article-abstract/24/
11/661/537179)
[59] Second P G 1955 Diamond technology production methods
for diamond and gem stones Nature 1 75
[60] Tian Y X, Liu H L, Sheldon B W, Webster T J, Yang S C,
Yang H L and Yang L 2019 Surface energy-mediated
fibronectin adsorption and osteoblast responses on
nanostructured diamond J. Mater. Sci. Technol.
35 817–23
[61] Wang H, Yang J and Sun F H 2020 Cutting performances of
MCD, SMCD, NCD and MCD/NCD coated tools in
high-speed milling of hot bending graphite molds J.
Mater. Process. Technol. 276 116401
[62] Alcantar-Peña J J, Lee G, Fuentes-Fernandez E M A,
Gurman P, Quevedo-Lopez M, Sahoo S, Katiyar R S,
Berman D and Auciello O 2016 Science and technology of
diamond films grown on HfO2 interface layer for
transformational technologies Diam. Relat. Mater.
69 221–8
[63] Xiao C, Hsia F C, Sutton-Cook A, Weber B and Franklin S
2022 Polishing of polycrystalline diamond using synergies
between chemical and mechanical inputs: a review of
mechanisms and processes Carbon 196 29–48
[64] Butler J E and Windischmann H 1998 Developments in
CVD-diamond synthesis during the past decade MRS Bull.
23 22–27
[65] Williams O A 2011 Nanocrystalline diamond Diam. Relat.
Mater. 20 621–40
[66] Butler J E and Sumant A V 2008 The CVD of nanodiamond
materials Chem. Vap. Depos. 14 145–60
[67] Lu M, Wang H, Song X and Sun F H 2023 Effect of doping
level on residual stress, coating-substrate adhesion and
wear resistance of boron-doped diamond coated tools J.
Manuf. Process. 88 145–56
[68] Auciello O and Sumant A V 2010 Status review of the
science and technology of ultrananocrystalline diamond
(UNCD™) films and application to multifunctional
devices Diam. Relat. Mater. 19 699–718
[69] Yang Q, Zhao J Q, Huang Y P, Zhu X W, Fu W C, Li C M
and Miao J Y 2019 A diamond made microchannel heat
sink for high-density heat flux dissipation Appl. Therm.
Eng. 158 113804
[70] Bhat D G, Johnson D G, Malshe A P, Naseem H,
Brown W D, Schaper L W and Shen C H 1995 A
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
preliminary investigation of the effect of post-deposition
polishing of diamond films on the machining behavior of
diamond-coated cutting tools Diam. Relat. Mater.
4 921–9
[71] Malshe A P, Park B S, Brown W D and Naseem H A 1999 A
review of techniques for polishing and planarizing
chemically vapor-deposited (CVD) diamond films and
substrates Diam. Relat. Mater. 8 1198–213
[72] Zaitsev A M, Kosaca G, Richarz B, Raiko V, Job R, Fries T
and Fahrner W R 1998 Thermochemical polishing of
CVD diamond films Diam. Relat. Mater. 7 1108–17
[73] Tsai H Y, Ting C J and Chou C P 2007 Evaluation research of
polishing methods for large area diamond films produced
by chemical vapor deposition Diam. Relat. Mater.
16 253–61
[74] Liu H Z, Zong W J and Cheng X 2021 Behaviors of carbon
atoms induced by friction in mechanical polishing of
diamond Comput. Mater. Sci. 186 110069
[75] Ralchenko V G, Ashkinazi E E, Zavedeev E V,
Khomich A A, Bolshakov A P, Ryzhkov S G, Sovyk D N,
Shershulin V A, Yurov V Y and Rudnev V V 2016
High-rate ultrasonic polishing of polycrystalline diamond
films Diam. Relat. Mater. 66 171–6
[76] Guo X G, Yuan S, Wang X L, Jin Z J and Kang R K 2019
Atomistic mechanisms of chemical mechanical polishing
of diamond (100) in aqueous H2 O2 /pure H2 O: molecular
dynamics simulations using reactive force field (ReaxFF)
Comput. Mater. Sci. 157 99–106
[77] Chen Y, Zhang L C and Arsecularatne J A 2007 Polishing of
polycrystalline diamond by the technique of dynamic
friction. Part 2: material removal mechanism Int. J. Mach.
Tools Manuf. 47 1615–24
[78] Kühnle J and Weis O 1995 Mechanochemical superpolishing
of diamond using NaNO3 or KNO3 as oxidizing agents
Surf. Sci. 340 16–22
[79] Yang H P, Jin Z J, Niu L, Wang H C and Niu H 2022
Visible-light catalyzed assisted chemical mechanical
polishing of single crystal diamond Diam. Relat. Mater.
125 108982
[80] Xu H Q, Zang J B, Yang G P, Tian P F, Wang Y H, Yu Y Q,
Lu J, Xu X P and Zhang P W 2018 An efficient
titanium-containing corundum wheel for grinding CVD
diamond films Diam. Relat. Mater. 84 119–26
[81] Ramesham R and Rose M F 1998 Polishing of polycrystalline
diamond by hot nickel surface Thin Solid Films 320 223–7
[82] Kubota A, Nagae S and Motoyama S 2020 High-precision
mechanical polishing method for diamond substrate using
micron-sized diamond abrasive grains Diam. Relat. Mater.
10 107644
[83] Zong W J, Li D, Cheng K, Sun T, Wang H X and Liang Y C
2005 The material removal mechanism in mechanical
lapping of diamond cutting tools Int. J. Mach. Tools
Manuf. 45 783–8
[84] Kubota A, Motoyama S and Touge M 2016 Surface
smoothing of a polycrystalline diamond using an iron
plate-H2 O2 chemical reaction Diam. Relat. Mater.
69 96–101
[85] Kubota A, Fukuyama S, Ichimori Y and Touge M 2012
Surface smoothing of single-crystal diamond (100)
substrate by polishing technique Diam. Relat. Mater.
24 59–62
[86] Tang C J, Neves A J, Fernandes A J S, Grácio J and Ali N
2003 A new elegant technique for polishing CVD
diamond films Diam. Relat. Mater. 12 1411–6
[87] Grodzinski P 1953 Diamond Technology: Production
Methods for Diamond and Gem Stones 2nd edn (N. A. G.
Press) (available at: http://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/113000079
4301423616)
30
Topical Review
[88] Yang N, Zong W, Li Z and Sun T 2015 Wear process of
single crystal diamond affected by sliding velocity and
contact pressure in mechanical polishing Diam. Relat.
Mater. 58 46–53
[89] Kubota A, Nagae S, Motoyama S and Touge M 2015
Two-step polishing technique for single crystal diamond
(100) substrate utilizing a chemical reaction with iron
plate Diam. Relat. Mater. 60 75–80
[90] Suzuki K, Iwai M, Ninomiya S and Uematsu T 2009
Dynamic friction polishing method utilizing resistance
heating for efficient removal of electrically conductive
diamond Adv. Mater. Res. 76–78 325–30
[91] Chen C 2005 Research on Polishing Diamond Film by
Chemical Mechanical Polishing Methods (Guangdong
University of Technology)
[92] Nguyen V T and Fang T H 2020 Molecular dynamics
simulation of abrasive characteristics and interfaces
in chemical mechanical polishing Appl. Surf. Sci.
509 144676
[93] Cheng C Y, Tsai H Y, Wu C H, Liu P Y, Hsieh C H and
Chang Y Y 2005 An oxidation enhanced mechanical
polishing technique for CVD diamond films Diam. Relat.
Mater. 14 622–5
[94] Rothschild M, Arnone C and Ehrlich D J 1987 Laser
photosublimation of compound semiconductors J. Mater.
Res. 2 244–51
[95] Pimenov S M, Kononenko V V, Ralchenko V G, Konov V I,
Gloor S, Lüthy W, Weber H P and Khomich A V 1999
Laser polishing of diamond plates Appl. Phys. A 69 81–88
[96] Wang L X, Chen X K, Wu G, Cao S Z, Xiong Y Q, Wang J X
and Zhao D C 2017 Study on site-specific polishing of
polycrystalline diamond film by KrF excimer laser J.
Laser Micro Nanoeng. 12 62–66
[97] Ogawa Y, Ota M, Nakamoto K, Fukaya T, Russell M,
Zohdi T I, Yamazaki K and Aoyama H 2016 A study on
machining of binder-less polycrystalline diamond by
femtosecond pulsed laser for fabrication of micro milling
tools CIRP Ann. 65 245–8
[98] Kononenko T V, Pivovarov P A, Khomich A A,
Khmelnitsky R A, Plotnichenko V G and Konov V I 2019
Processing of polycrystalline diamond surface by IR laser
pulses without interior damage Opt. Laser Technol.
117 87–93
[99] Scalbert W, Tanner D and Holtz R 2020 Development of
high-power laser ablation process for polycrystalline
diamond polishing Part 2: upscaling of PCD ultra-short
pulsed laser ablation to high power Proc. SPIE
11273 1127303
[100] Cui Y X, Guo P, Zhu X M, Tian Y L, Zhang D W and Qi H J
2021 A study of femtosecond laser polishing of CVD
nanopolycrystalline diamond films Surf. Rev. Lett.
28 2150023
[101] Prieske M and Vollertsen F 2021 Picosecond-laser polishing
of CVD-diamond coatings without graphite formation
Mater. Today Proc. 40 1–4
[102] Spencer E G and Schmidt P H 1972 Ion machining of
diamond J. Appl. Phys. 43 2956–8
[103] Hoffman A, Paterson P J K and Prawer S 1990 Comparison
of the effect of argon and hydrogen ion bombardment on
the diamond (100) surface as studied by AES and EELS
Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 52 63–67
[104] Grogan D F, Zhao T, Bovard B G and Macleod H A 1992
Planarizing technique for ion-beam polishing of diamond
films Appl. Opt. 31 1483–7
[105] Vivensang C, Ferlazzo-Manin L, Ravet M F, Turban G,
Rousseaux F and Gicquel A 1996 Surface smoothing of
diamond membranes by reactive ion etching process
Diam. Relat. Mater. 5 840–4
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
[106] Koslowski B, Strobel S and Ziemann P 2000 Ion polishing of
a diamond (100) surface artificially roughened on the
nanoscale Diam. Relat. Mater. 9 1159–63
[107] Mi S C, Toros A, Graziosi T and Quack N 2019 Non-contact
polishing of single crystal diamond by ion beam etching
Diam. Relat. Mater. 92 248–52
[108] Lee C L, Gu E, Dawson M D, Friel I and Scarsbrook G A
2008 Etching and micro-optics fabrication in diamond
using chlorine-based inductively-coupled plasma Diam.
Relat. Mater. 17 1292–6
[109] Schmitt J, Nelissen W, Wallrabe U and Völklein F 2017
Implementation of smooth nanocrystalline diamond
microstructures by combining reactive ion etching and ion
beam etching Diam. Relat. Mater. 79 164–72
[110] Harker A B, Flintoff J F and DeNatale J F 1990 Polishing of
polycrystalline diamond films Proc. SPIE 1325 222–9
[111] Ieshkin A E, Kushkina K D, Kireev D S, Ermakov Y A and
Chernysh V S 2017 Polishing superhard material surfaces
with gas-cluster ion beams Tech. Phys. Lett. 43 95–97
[112] Xie L, Zhou T X, Stöhr R J and Yacoby A 2018
Crystallographic orientation dependent reactive ion
etching in single crystal diamond Adv. Mater. 30 1705501
[113] Sandhu G S and Chu W K 1989 Reactive ion etching of
diamond Appl. Phys. Lett. 55 437–8
[114] Li L Z et al 2013 Reactive ion etching: optimized diamond
membrane fabrication for transmission electron
microscopy J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 31 06FF01
[115] Hicks M L, Pakpour-Tabrizi A C, Zuerbig V, Kirste L,
Nebel C and Jackman R B 2019 Optimizing reactive ion
etching to remove sub-surface polishing damage on
diamond J. Appl. Phys. 125 244502
[116] Sato Y, Kawamura J, Nagase T, Pahlovy S A and Miyamoto I
2011 Sharpening of CVD diamond coated tools by
0.5−10 keV Ar+ ion beam Diam. Relat. Mater. 20 954–9
[117] Nagase T, Kato H, Pahlovy S A and Miyamoto I 2010
Nanosmoothing of single crystal diamond chips by 1 keV
Ar+ ion bombardment J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 28 263–7
[118] Yamamura K, Takiguchi T, Ueda M, Deng H, Hattori A N
and Zettsu N 2011 Plasma assisted polishing of single
crystal SiC for obtaining atomically flat strain-free surface
CIRP Ann. 60 571–4
[119] Liu N, Sugimoto K, Yoshitaka N, Yamada H, Sun R Y,
Kawai K, Arima K and Yamamura K 2022 Effects of
polishing pressure and sliding speed on the material
removal mechanism of single crystal diamond in
plasma-assisted polishing Diam. Relat. Mater. 124 108899
[120] Liu N, Yamada H, Yoshitaka N, Sugimoto K, Sun R Y,
Kawai K, Arima K and Yamamura K 2021 Comparison of
surface and subsurface damage of mosaic single-crystal
diamond substrate processed by mechanical and
plasma-assisted polishing Diam. Relat. Mater. 119 108555
[121] Takeuchi D, Watanabe H, Yamanaka S, Okushi H, Sawada H,
Ichinose H, Sekiguchi T and Kajimura K 2001 Origin of
band-A emission in diamond thin films Phys. Rev. B
63 245328
[122] Takeuchi D, Watanabe H, Sawada H, Yamanaka S,
Ichinose H, Sekiguchi T and Okushi H 2001 Origin of
band-A emission in homoepitaxial diamond films Diam.
Relat. Mater. 10 526–30
[123] Yamamura K, Emori K, Sun R, Ohkubo Y, Endo K,
Yamada H, Chayahara A and Mokuno Y 2018
Damage-free highly efficient polishing of single-crystal
diamond wafer by plasma-assisted polishing CIRP Ann.
67 353–6
[124] Liu N, Sugimoto K, Yoshitaka N, Yamada H, Sun R Y,
Arima K and Yamamura K 2023 Highly efficient finishing
of large-sized single crystal diamond substrates by
combining nanosecond pulsed laser trimming and
plasma-assisted polishing Ceram. Int. 49 19109–23
31
Topical Review
[125] Butler-Smith P W, Axinte D A, Pacella M and Fay M W
2013 Micro/nanometric investigations of the effects of
laser ablation in the generation of micro-tools from solid
CVD diamond structures J. Mater. Process. Technol.
213 194–200
[126] Ascarelli P, Cappelli E, Orlando S and Pinzari F 1998 Laser
treatment of diamond films Appl. Surf. Sci.
127–129 837–42
[127] Okuchi T, Ohfuji H, Odake S, Kagi H, Nagatomo S,
Sugata M and Sumiya H 2009 Micromachining and
surface processing of the super-hard nano-polycrystalline
diamond by three types of pulsed lasers Appl. Phys. A
96 833–42
[128] Madi C S, Anzenberg E, Ludwig K F Jr and Aziz M J 2011
Mass redistribution causes the structural richness of
ion-irradiated surfaces Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 066101
[129] Weima J A, Zaitsev A M, Job R, Kosaca G C, Blum F,
Grabosch G, Fahmer W R and Knopp J 1999
Nano-polishing and subsequent optical characterization of
CVD polycrystalline diamond films IECON’99. Conf.
Proc. 25th Annual Conf. IEEE Industrial Electronics
Society (Cat. No. 99CH37029) (IEEE) pp 50–55
[130] Deng H 2016 Development of plasma-assisted polishing for
highly efficient and damage-free finishing of single-crystal
SiC, GaN and VD-SiC Doctoral Dissertation Osaka
University (https://doi.org/10.18910/55988)
[131] Ji J W, Yamamura K and Deng H 2021 Plasma-assisted
polishing for atomic surface fabrication of single crystal
SiC Acta Phys. Sin. 70 068102
[132] Deng H, Endo K and Yamamura K 2014 Comparison of
thermal oxidation and plasma oxidation of 4H-SiC
(0001) for surface flattening Appl. Phys. Lett.
104 101608
[133] Deng H, Ueda M and Yamamura K 2014 Characterization of
4H-SiC (0001) surface processed by plasma-assisted
polishing Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 72 1–7
[134] Peguiron A, Moras G, Walter M, Uetsuka H, Pastewka L and
Moseler M 2016 Activation and mechanochemical
breaking of C–C bonds initiate wear of diamond (110)
surfaces in contact with silica Carbon 98 474–83
[135] Thomas E L H, Nelson G W, Mandal S, Foord J S and
Williams O A 2014 Chemical mechanical polishing of thin
film diamond Carbon 68 473–9
[136] Rothschild M, Arnone C and Ehrlich D J 1986 Excimer-
laser etching of diamond and hard carbon films by direct
writing and optical projection J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B
4 310–4
[137] Tezuka S and Yoshikawa M 1989 Cutting of diamond with
YAG laser J. Jpn. Soc. Precis. Eng. 55 1863–68
[138] Tokarev V N and Konov V I 1991 Light-induced polishing of
diamond films Mater. Sci. Monogr. 73 249–55
[139] Gloor S, Lüthy W, Weber H P, Pimenov S M,
Ralchenko V G, Konov V I and Khomich A V 1999 UV
laser polishing of thick diamond films for IR windows
Appl. Surf. Sci. 138–139 135–9
[140] Takayama N and Yan J W 2017 Laser irradiation responses
of a single-crystal diamond produced by different crystal
growth methods Appl. Sci. 7 815
[141] Takayama N and Yan J W 2017 Mechanisms of micro-
groove formation on single-crystal diamond by a
nanosecond pulsed laser J. Mater. Process. Technol.
243 299–311
[142] Sudheer S K, Pillai V P M and Nayar V U 2007
Characterization of laser processing of single-crystal
natural diamonds using micro-Raman spectroscopic
investigations J. Raman Spectrosc. 38 427–35
[143] Li W, Xiao D B, He H H, Hou Z Q and Wu X Z 2016
Single-crystal diamond micro-cupped resonators made by
laser ablation Microsyst. Technol. 22 2603–10
Int. J. Extrem. Manuf. 6 (2024) 012004
[144] Kononenko T V, Meier M, Komlenok M S, Pimenov S M,
Romano V, Pashinin V P and Konov V I 2008
Microstructuring of diamond bulk by IR femtosecond
laser pulses Appl. Phys. A 90 645–51
[145] Kononenko T V, Komlenok M S, Pashinin V P,
Pimenov S M, Konov V I, Neff M, Romano V and
Lüthy W 2009 Femtosecond laser microstructuring
in the bulk of diamond Diam. Relat. Mater. 18 196–9
[146] Kononenko T V, Konov V I, Pimenov S M, Rossukanyi N M,
Rukovishnikov A I and Romano V 2011
Three-dimensional laser writing in diamond bulk Diam.
Relat. Mater. 20 264–8
[147] Parks S M, Grote R R, Hopper D A and Bassett L C 2018
Fabrication of (111)-faced single-crystal diamond plates
by laser nucleated cleaving Diam. Relat. Mater.
84 20–25
[148] Pimenov S M, Neuenschwander B, Jäggi B and Romano V
2014 Effect of crystal orientation on picosecond-laser bulk
32
Topical Review
microstructuring and Raman lasing in diamond Appl.
Phys. A 114 1309–19
[149] Komlenok M, Pashinin V, Sedov V and Konov V 2022
Femtosecond and nanosecond laser polishing of rough
polycrystalline diamond Laser Phys. 32 084003
[150] Naamoun M, Tallaire A, Silva F, Achard J, Doppelt P and
Gicquelet A 2012 Etch-pit formation mechanism induced
on HPHT and CVD diamond single crystals by H2 /O2
plasma etching treatment: part of topical section on
fundamentals and applications of diamond Phys. Status
Solidi a 209 1715–20
[151] Harb T, Kedzierski W and McConkey J W 2001 Production
of ground state OH following electron impact on H2 O J.
Chem. Phys. 115 5507–12
[152] Krstulović N, Labazan I, Milošević S, Cvelbar U, Vesel A
and Mozetič M 2006 Optical emission spectroscopy
characterization of oxygen plasma during treatment of a
PET foil J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 39 3799