Diamond coatings were grown on SiO₂/Si substrate under various process conditions by microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD) using CH₄/H₂ gas mixture. In this paper, we present a microstructural study to elucidate on the growth mechanism and evolution of defects, viz., strain, dislocations, stacking faults, twins and non-diamond impurities in diamond coatings grown under different process conditions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the diamond coatings. It has been shown that our new approach of prolonged substrate pre-treatment under hydrogen plasma yielded a new growth sequence that the SiO₂ layer on the Si substrate was first reduced to yield Si layer of ∼150 nm thickness before diamond was allowed to grow under CH₄–H₂ plasma, created subsequently. It has also been shown that Si and O as impurity from the substrate hinders the initial diamond growth to yield non-diamond phases. It is being suggested that the crystal defects like twins, stacking faults, dislocations in the diamond grains and dislocations in the intermediate Si layer are generated due to the development of non-uniform stresses during diamond growth at high temperature.

At present alumina is themost widely used bio-ceramic material for implants.However, diamond surface offers very good solid lubricant for different machinery, equipment including biomedical implants (hip implants, knee implants, etc.), since the coefficient of friction (COF) of diamond is lower than alumina. In this tribological study, alumina ball was chosen as the counter body material to show better performance of the polycrystalline diamond (PCD) coatings in biomedical load-bearing applications.Wear and friction data were recorded for microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition (MWCVD) grown PCD coatings of four different types, out of which two sampleswere as-deposited coatings, one was chemo-mechanically polished and the other diamond sample was made free standing by wet-chemical etching of the silicon wafer. The coefficient of friction of the MWCVD grown PCD against Al$_2$O$_3$ ball under dry ambient condition was found in the range of 0.29–0.7, but in the presence of simulated body fluid, the COF reduces significantly, in the range of 0.03–0.36. The samples were then characterized by Raman spectroscopy for their quality, by coherence scanning profilometer for surface roughness and by electron microscopy for their microstructural properties. Alumina balls worn out ($14.2 \times 10^{−1}$ mm$^3$) very rapidly with zero wear for diamond ceramic coatings. Since the generation of wear particle is the main problem for load-bearing prosthetic joints, it was concluded that the PCD material can potentially replace existing alumina bio-ceramic for their bettertribological properties.