Microscopic mechanism for mechanical polishing of diamond (110) surfaces

摘要

Mechanically induced degradation of diamond, as occurs during polishing, isstudied using total--energy pseudopotential calculations. The strong asymmetryin the rate of polishing between different directions on the diamond (110)surface is explained in terms of an atomistic mechanism for nano--grooveformation. The post--polishing surface morphology and the nature of thepolishing residue predicted by this mechanism are consistent with experimentalevidence.