A plasma-enhanced chemical transport process was developed to deposit diamond films from a solid carbon source in a subatmospheric pressure hydrogen environment (106-400 mbar (80-300 Torr)). The process uses inexpensive simple equipment. The diamond films were examined by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. High quality diamond films were grown at 1 mu m h(-1) deposition rate in static and dynamic flow systems. The effect of various surface coatings on diamond nucleation on a silicon substrate was investigated. The nucleation density on bare silicon was 4 x 10(6) cm(-2). A high nucleation density up to 10(9) cm(-2) was found on a fullerene-enriched carbon-coated silicon substrate. Diamond film morphology Variations with deposition conditions were studied.