DIAMOND COMPONENTS FOR QUANTUM IMAGING, SENSING AND INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICES

• US 20160348277A1
• Filed: 11/18/2014
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Element Six (Holdings) Ltd. (Anglo American PLC)
• Original Assignee: Element Six Technologies US Corporation (Anglo American PLC)
• Inventors: Twitchen, Daniel, Markham, Matthew, Stacey, Alastair
• Granted Patent: US 10,883,194 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/186 being specially pre-treated by, e.g. chemical or physical means
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/20 the substrate being of the same materials as the epitaxial layer
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/205 the substrate being of insulating material
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/04 Diamond
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/68 Crystals with laminate structure, e.g. "superlattices"
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 31/22 by ion-implantation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/042 Changing their shape, e.g. forming recesses etching of the semiconductor body H01L21/302
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/1602 Diamond

Abstract

A single crystal CVD diamond component comprising: a surface, wherein at least a portion of said surface is formed of as-grown growth face single crystal CVD diamond material which has not been polished or etched and which has a surface roughness R_a of no more than 100 nm; and a layer of NV⁻ defects, said layer of NV⁻ defects being disposed within 1 μm of the surface, said layer of NV⁻ defects having a thickness of no more than 500 nm, and said layer of NV⁻ defects having a concentration of NV⁻ defects of at least 10⁵ NV⁻/cm².

Claims

1. A single crystal chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond component comprising:

a surface, wherein at least a portion of said surface is formed of as-grown growth face single crystal CVD diamond material which has not been polished or etched and which has a surface roughness R_a of no more than 100 nm; and

a layer of NV⁻

defects, said layer of NV⁻

defects being disposed within 1 μ

m of the surface, said layer of NV⁻

defects having a thickness of no more than 500 nm, and said layer of NV⁻

defects having a concentration of NV⁻

defects of at least 10⁵NV/cm².

2. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the surface roughness R_a is no more than 80 nm.

3. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the portion of the surface which has said surface roughness R_a has an area of at least 100 nm².

4. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the surface comprises a projection with an outermost surface of the projection being formed of the as-grown growth face single crystal CVD diamond material.

5. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the layer of NV⁻

defects is disposed within 500 nm of the surface.

6. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the thickness of the layer of NV⁻

defects is no more than 200 nm.

7. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the concentration of NV⁻

defects in the layer of NV⁻

defects is at least 10⁶ NV⁻

/cm² and no more than 10¹⁴ NV⁻

/cm².

9. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the NV⁻

defects in the layer of NV⁻

defects have a spin coherence time T₂ at room temperature of at least 50 μ

s.

10. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the NV⁻

defects in the layer of NV⁻

defects have a full width half maximum intrinsic inhomogeneous zero phonon line width of no more than 100 MHz.

11. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 10,

wherein the full width half maximum intrinsic inhomogeneous zero phonon line width is averaged over at least 10 seconds.

12. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 10,

wherein the full width half maximum intrinsic inhomogeneous zero phonon line width is averaged over at least 10 spectral scans.

13. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

further comprising a layer having a single substitutional nitrogen concentration of no more than 300 ppb said layer being disposed distal to the surface relative to the layer of NV⁻

defects.

14. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein a layer disposed proximal to the surface relative to the layer of NV⁻

defects has a single substitutional nitrogen concentration of no more than 300 ppb.

20. The method of fabricating the single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1, the method comprising:

growing a single crystal CVD diamond layer having an as-grown growth face, at least a portion of the as-grown growth face having a surface roughness R_a of no more than 100 nm;

implanting nitrogen into said as-grown growth face of the single crystal CVD diamond layer without polishing and without etching the as-grown growth face; and

annealing the single crystal CVD diamond layer to cause migration of vacancy and/or nitrogen defects within the single crystal CVD diamond layer and formation of nitrogen-vacancy defects from the implanted nitrogen and the vacancy defects.

21. The method according to claim 20,

further comprising processing of the as-grown growth face of the single crystal CVD diamond layer at selected regions only to form device structures therein with one or more regions of said surface being retained in as-grown form.

24. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1, wherein the surface roughness R_a is no more than 20 nm.

25. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the portion of the surface which has said surface roughness R_a has an area of at least 1 mm².

26. The single crystal CVD diamond component according to claim 1,

wherein the concentration of NV⁻

defects in the layer of NV⁻

defects is at least 10⁹ NV⁻

/cm² and no more than 10¹⁴ NV⁻

/cm².

8. (canceled)

15-19. -19. (canceled)

22. -23. (canceled)

27. A single crystal chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond component comprising:

a surface, wherein at least a portion of said surface is formed of as-grown growth face single crystal CVD diamond material which has not been polished or etched and which has a surface roughness R_a of no more than 20 nm; and

a layer of NV⁻

defects, said layer of NV⁻

defects being disposed within 100 nm of the surface, said layer of NV⁻

defects having a thickness of no more than 30 nm, and said layer of NV⁻

defects having a concentration of NV⁻

defects of at least 10⁹ NV⁻

/cm² and no more than 10¹⁴ NV⁻

/cm²,

a layer disposed distal to the surface relative to the layer of NV⁻

defects having a single substitutional nitrogen concentration of no more than 100 ppb,

a layer disposed proximal to the surface relative to the layer of NV⁻

defects having a single substitutional nitrogen concentration of no more than 100 ppb;

wherein

the portion of the surface which has said surface roughness R_a has an area of at least 1 mm², and

the NV⁻

defects in the layer of NV⁻

defects have a spin coherence time T₂ at room temperature of at least 200 μ

s,

the NV⁻

defects in the layer of NV⁻

defects have a full width half maximum intrinsic inhomogeneous zero phonon line width of no more than 60 MHz, and

the full width half maximum intrinsic inhomogeneous zero phonon line width is averaged over at least 50 seconds, at least 50 spectral scans, or both.