Investigation on the atomic level removal mechanism of diamond with intrinsically anisotropic surface

Abstract

Herein, the atomic level material removal mechanisms of single-crystal diamond (SCD) (001), (1-10), and (111) planes were investigated through a combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM) scratching experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results showed that the "soft" directions on the planes of (001) was <100>, the (1-10) was <001>, and the (111) were [11-2], [1-21], and [-211]. These directions exhibited the highest scratching force/depth and the largest quantity of amorphous atoms. We found that the scratching force would lead to the amorphization of the diamond surface atoms during the scratching process, which would facilitate the removal of the surface material. These intriguing findings would provide a theoretical basis for further improving the surface quality of superhard materials.