Wafer‐scale heteroepitaxial diamond thin films demonstrate multiple advantages for a further development of integrated optical and quantum devices based on impurity‐vacancy color centers. The main obstacle here is a high structural defect density characteristic for heteroepitaxial epilayers. In this work we report on technological methods of stress control, NV‐formation and defect density reduction in diamond epilayers, which are based on principles of epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO). Here we compare material and quantum properties of NV‐doped diamond thin films obtained by patterned nucleation growth, and by ELO of microstructured epilayers. We demonstrate that a combination of both methods might have a significant potential for the wafer‐scale production of heteroepitaxial diamond for quantum devices.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.