Electron microscopy revealed the presence of {001} platelets in annealed, N-containing diamond. These extended planar defects give rise to a large displacement of the surrounding material, were correlated with luminescence and optical absorption, and were characterized by the B’ vibrational band above the one-phonon maximum. A recent proposal for an atomic structure for these defects was made up from a <110>a/4 shear in the {001} plane, resulting in C-C double bonds aligned along <001>. It was shown here that not only was this structure inconsistent with experimental observations, but it was unstable and reconstructs to form a largely passive stacking fault defect which also has properties inconsistent with the platelet.

Platelets and the <110>a0/4 {001} Stacking Fault in Diamond. J.P.Goss, P.R.Briddon, R.Jones, M.I.Heggie: Physical Review B, 2006, 73[11], 115204 (6pp)