Dislocation density reduction using overgrowth on hole arrays made in heteroepitaxial diamond substrates

The growth of large-area diamond films with low dislocation density is a landmark in the fabrication of diamond-based power electronic devices or high-energy particle detectors. Here, we report the development of a growth strategy based on the use of micrometric laser-pierced hole arrays to reduce dislocation densities in heteroepitaxial chemical vapor deposition diamond. We show that, under optimal growth conditions, this strategy leads to a reduction in dislocation density by two orders of magnitude to reach an average value of 6 × 105 cm−2 in the region where lateral growth occurred, which is equivalent to that typically measured for commercial type Ib single crystal diamonds.