Diamond sensors, detectors, and quantum devices

• US 8,686,377 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2012
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Element Six (Holdings) Ltd. (Anglo American PLC)
• Original Assignee: Element Six (Holdings) Ltd. (Anglo American PLC)
• Inventors: Twitchen, Daniel James, Markham, Matthew Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): MASKELL, MICHAEL P
• Application Number:
  US14/115,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20140061510A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 250/492.1, 250/493.1, 250/504.R
• US Class Current: 250/492.1
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/105 by irradiation or electric discharge
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/04 Diamond

Abstract

A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material comprising: a growth sector; and a plurality of point defects of one or more type within the growth sector, wherein at least one type of point defect is preferentially aligned within the growth sector, wherein at least 60% of said at least one type of point defect shows said preferential alignment, and wherein the at least one type of point defect is a negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy defect (NV⁻).

Claims

1. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material comprising:

a growth sector; and

a plurality of point defects of one or more type within the growth sector,

wherein at least one type of point defect is preferentially aligned within the growth sector,

wherein at least 60% of said at least one type of point defect shows said preferential alignment, and

wherein the at least one type of point defect is a negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy defect (NV⁻

).

2. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein at least 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98%, or 99% of said at least one type of point defect shows said preferential alignment.

3. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein said preferential alignment is out-of-plane with respect to a {110}, {111}, or {113} crystallographic plane, preferably the {110} crystallographic plane.

4. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein said preferential alignment is in a <

111>

direction out-of-plane with respect to a {110} crystallographic plane.

5. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the preferentially aligned point defects lie in a {110}, {111}, or {113} growth sector of the single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material, preferably a {110} growth sector.

6. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the preferentially aligned point defects lie within 100 μ

m of an external surface of the single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material, said external surface being a {110}, {111}, or {113} surface, preferably a {110} surface.

7. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the preferentially aligned point defects lie in a {100} growth sector of the single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material.

8. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the preferential alignment is out-of-plane with respect to a {100} crystallographic plane.

9. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the preferentially aligned point defects lie within 100 μ

m of an external surface of the single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material, said external surface being a {100} surface.

10. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the single crystal CVD synthetic diamond layer has one or more of:

a neutral single substitutional nitrogen concentration equal to or less than 20 ppb, 10 ppb, 5 ppb, 1 ppb or 0.5 ppb;

an NV⁻

concentration equal to or less than 0.15 ppb, 0.1 ppb, 0.05 ppb, 0.001 ppb, 0.0001 ppb or 0.00005 ppb or an NV⁻

concentration equal to or greater than 0.1 ppm, 0.5 ppm, 1.0 ppm, 2.0 ppm, 3 ppm, 4 ppm or 5 ppm; and

a total concentration of ¹³C equal to or less than 0.9%, 0.7%, 0.4% 0.1%, 0.01%, or 0.001%.

11. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the at least one type of point defect has a decoherence time T₂ equal to or greater than 0.05 ms, 0.1 ms, 0.3 ms, 0.6 ms, 1 ms, 5 ms, or 15 ms, with corresponding T₂* values equal to or less than 800 μ

s, 600 μ

s, 400 μ

s, 200 μ

s, 150 μ

s, 100 μ

s, 75 μ

s, 50 μ

s, 20 μ

s, or 1 μ

s.

12. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material has at least one dimension equal to or greater than 0.1 mm, 0.5 mm, 1 mm, 2 mm, or 3 mm.

13. A single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1, wherein the single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material forms a layer having a thickness equal to or greater than 0.1 μ

m, 1 μ

m, 10 μ

m, 100 μ

m, 200 μ

m, or 500 μ

m.

14. A device component comprising a single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material according to claim 1.

15. A device component according to claim 14, wherein an out-coupling structure is formed at a surface of the single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material for increasing out-coupling of light, said at least one type of point defect being preferentially aligned relative to said out-coupling structure.

16. A device comprising:

a device component according to claim 14; and

a light source for optically pumping one or more of the plurality of point defects in the single crystal synthetic CVD diamond material, said at least one type of point defect being preferentially aligned relative to said light source.