Experimental observations of the energy‐dependent electron‐beam penetration in type II‐A natural diamond are reported. The experimental data are compared with results obtained from numerical Monte Carlo simulations, and the results are in very good agreement. The results also reveal that a threshold energy of about 125 keV is necessary for complete penetration for a 35 &mgr;m sample. It is found that over the 30–180 keV range, the energy dependence of the penetration depth and total path length exhibits a power‐law relation. Monte Carlo simulations have also been performed to investigate the excess carrier‐generation profiles within diamond for a set of incidente‐beam energy distributions. The simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of tailoring the internal source function, and hence influencing the diffusion currents, the internal electric fields, and charge injection through the contacts.