We report the influence of substrate surface roughness on cubic boron nitride (cBN) film deposition under low-energy ion bombardment in an inductively coupled plasma. Silicon and cemented tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) surfaces are roughened by low-energy ion-assisted etching in a hydrogen plasma, followed by deposition in a fluorine-containing plasma. Infrared absorption coefficients are measured to be 22,000 cm(-1) and 17,000 cm(-1) for sp(2)-bonded BN and cBN phases, respectively, for our films. For the silicon substrates, the film growth rate and the cBN content in the film increase with increasing the surface roughness, while the amount of sp(2)BN phase in the film shows only a small increase. A larger surface roughness of the substrate results in a smaller contact angle of water, indicating that a higher surface free energy of the substrate contributes to enhancing growth of the cBN film. For the WC-Co substrates, the film growth rate and the cBN content in the film increase similarly by roughening the surface. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.