Formation of Nitrogen Vacancy Centers in Homoepitaxial Diamond Thin Films Grown via Microwave Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition
A model for controlling the two dimensional distribution of negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV fluorescent centers near the surface of a diamond crystal is presented, using only a microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. In this approach, a CVD diamond layer is homoepitaxialy grown via microwave plasma assisted CVD using an isotopically enriched methane (12CH4) hydrogen (H2) and nitrogen (N2) gas mixture on patterned diamond (0 0 1) When the surface is imaged by means of confocal microscope photoluminescence mapping, fine grooves are observed to have been generated artificially on the diamond surface. NV centers are found to be distributed selectively into these grooves. These results demonstrate an effective means for the formation of NV centers of selectable size and density via microwave plasma assisted CVD, with potential application in the production of diamond quantum sensors.
IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology