A nucleation method to form diamond on chemically pretreated silicon (111) surfaces is reported. The nucleation consisted of binding covalently 2,2-divinyladamantane molecules on the silicon substrate. Subsequently, low pressure diamond growth was performed via microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition in a tubular deposition system. The resulting diamond layers presented a good crystallinity and the Raman spectra showed a very sharp peak at1331 cm−1.©1998 American Institute of Physics.