High Young's modulus in ultra thin nanocrystalline diamond

► Ultra thin (<150 nm thick) nanocrystalline diamond films are shown to exhibit high Young's moduli, comparable with single crystal diamond. ► The mechanical properties are shown to correlate with the sp2 non-diamond content of the films, which correlates with the grain size. ► Membranes of thin nanocrystalline diamond are shown to be highly resilient and pin hole free, ideal for electrochemical applications and MEMS technologies.