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Atomic scale etching of diamond - insights from molecular dynamics simulations

At a Glance

Section titled ā€œAt a Glanceā€
MetadataDetails
Publication Date2024-09-10
JournalJournal of Physics D Applied Physics
AuthorsJack S. Draney, Joseph R. Vella, Athanassios Z. Panagiotopoulos, David B. Graves
Citations4

Abstract

Section titled ā€œAbstractā€

Abstract Diamond is a promising material for multiple applications in quantum information processing and sensing as well as applications in microelectronics. However, diamond devices can be limited by surface defects that compromise charge stability and spin coherence, among others. Improved strategies in plasma etching of diamond could play an important role in minimizing or eliminating these defects. In this work, we explore plasma-assisted atomic scale etching of diamond using argon ions (Ar + ), hydrogen ions (H + ) and hydrogen atoms (H). We employ classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and test several interatomic potentials based on the Reactive Empirical Bond Order (REBO) form with comparisons to a variety of published experimental results. We performed MD simulations of low-energy hydrogen ( <mml:math xmlns:mml=ā€œhttp://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathMLā€ overflow=ā€œscrollā€> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>ā©½</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> 50 eV) and argon ( <mml:math xmlns:mml=ā€œhttp://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathMLā€ overflow=ā€œscrollā€> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>ā©½</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> 200 eV) ion bombardment of diamond surfaces. Ar + bombardment can be used to locally smooth initially rough diamond surfaces via the formation of an amorphous C layer, the thickness of which increases with argon ion energy. Subsequent exposure with hydrogen ions (or fast neutrals) will selectively etch this amorphous C layer, leaving the underlying diamond layer mostly intact if the H energy is maintained below about 10 eV. The simulations suggest that combining Ar + smoothing with selective, near threshold energy H removal of amorphous C can be an effective strategy for diamond surface engineering, leading to more reliable and sensitive diamond color center devices.

Tech Support

Section titled ā€œTech Supportā€

Original Source

Section titled ā€œOriginal Sourceā€

References

Section titled ā€œReferencesā€
  1. 2019 - Origins of diamond surface noise probed by correlating single-spin measurements with surface spectroscopy [Crossref]
  2. 2019 - Evidence for Primal sp2 defects at the diamond surface: candidates for electron trapping and noise sources [Crossref]
  3. 2021 - Materials challenges and opportunities for quantum computing hardware [Crossref]
  4. 2015 - Reduced plasma-induced damage to near-surface nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond [Crossref]
  5. 2022 - LAMMPS - a flexible simulation tool for particle-based materials modeling at the atomic, meso and continuum scales [Crossref]
  6. 2002 - A second-generation reactive empirical bond order (REBO) potential energy expression for hydrocarbons [Crossref]
  7. 2008 - Describing bond-breaking processes by reactive potentials: importance of an environment-dependent interaction range [Crossref]
  8. 1990 - Empirical potential for hydrocarbons for use in simulating the chemical vapor deposition of diamond films [Crossref]
  9. 1996 - Empirical potentials for C-Si-H systems with application to C60 interactions with Si crystal surfaces [Crossref]
  10. 2000 - A reactive potential for hydrocarbons with intermolecular interactions [Crossref]

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