The depth and morphology of subsurface damage (SSD) in fused silica samples ground with diamond grinding wheels were investigated. The factors possibly influencing the SSD depth of ground samples were examined. The results demonstrate that the SSD depth is most responsive to diamond grit size while the processing parameters (i.e. depth of cut, feed rate, and wheel peripheral speed) have marginal effects on the SSD depth. The SSD depth decreases with the abrasive/grit size of diamond wheels and slightly diminishes with the decrease of cutting depth but little influenced by feeding rate and wheel speed. The morphology inspection shows that the density of subsurface cracks in ground fused silica samples decays exponentially with the depth from the ground surface into the bulk and the cracks vanish at a certain depth that depends on the mechanical and physical properties of samples and diamond abrasives/grits. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.