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X-ray quantification of oxygen groups on diamond surfaces for quantum applications

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2023-10-04
JournalMaterials for Quantum Technology
AuthorsNikolai Dontschuk, LVH Rodgers, Jyh‐Pin Chou, DA Evans, Kane M. O’Donnell
InstitutionsThe Royal Melbourne Hospital, HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics
Citations9

Abstract Identifying the surface chemistry of diamond materials is increasingly important for device applications, especially quantum sensors. Oxygen-related termination species are widely used because they are naturally abundant, chemically stable, and compatible with stable nitrogen vacancy centres near the diamond surface. Diamond surfaces host a mixture of oxygen-related species, and the precise chemistry and relative coverage of different species can lead to dramatically different electronic properties, with direct consequences for near-surface quantum sensors. However, it is challenging to unambiguously identify the different groups or quantify the relative surface coverage. Here we show that a combination of x-ray absorption and photoelectron spectroscopies can be used to quantitatively identify the coverage of carbonyl functional groups on the <mml:math xmlns:mml=“http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML” overflow=“scroll”> <mml:mo fence=“false” stretchy=“false”>{</mml:mo> <mml:mn>100</mml:mn> <mml:mo fence=“false” stretchy=“false”>}</mml:mo> </mml:math> diamond surface. Using this method we reveal an unexpectedly high fraction of carbonyl groups ( <mml:math xmlns:mml=“http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML” overflow=“scroll”> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>&gt;</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> 9%) on a wide range of sample surfaces. Furthermore, through a combination of ab initio calculations and spectroscopic studies of engineered surfaces, we reveal unexpected complexities in the x-ray spectroscopy of oxygen terminated diamond surfaces. Of particular note, we find the binding energies of carbonyl-related groups on diamond differs significantly from other organic systems, likely resulting in previous misestimation of carbonyl fractions on diamond surfaces.

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