The paper reports on the results of Er‐Yb and Er‐Al co‐implantation into commercial single‐crystalline diamonds as well as into nano‐crystalline diamond (NCD) thin films and their photoluminescence properties. The NCD thin films were deposited on fused silica glass by linear‐antenna microwave plasma‐enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PE MWCVD). Er implantation was performed at an energy of 190 keV and fluences of 1 × 1015 and 5 × 1015 ions.cm−2 followed by Yb co‐implantation under the same conditions or Al co‐implantation at an energy of 40 keV and the same fluences. The concentration depth profiles of the elements and the degree of their crystal damage (structural ordering) were measured using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy/channelling, respectively. Structural changes were studied by Raman spectroscopy. All Er‐Yb doped samples revealed measurable photoluminescence at approximately 1.5 μm. A comparison with Er‐implanted samples showed that the Er‐Yb co‐implantation was beneficial for the photoluminescence at 1.5 μm in both substrates. Er‐doped NCD films revealed higher intensity of luminescence than Er‐doped single‐crystal diamond. This observation is attributed to the specific incorporation of Er into the diamond and at the grain boundaries.

We present a fundamental study of the erbium luminescence centres in single- and nano-crystalline (NCD) diamonds. Both diamond forms were doped with Er using ion implantation with the energy of 190 keV at fluences up to 5 × 1015 ions·cm−2, followed by annealing at controllable temperature in Ar atmosphere or vacuum to enhance the near infrared photoluminescence. The Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry showed that Er concentration maximum determined for NCD films is slightly shifted to the depth with respect to the Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter simulation. The number of the displaced atoms per depth slightly increased with the fluence, but in fact the maximum reached the fully disordered target even in the lowest ion fluence used. The post-implantation annealing at 800 °C in vacuum had a further beneficial effect on erbium luminescence intensity at around 1.5 μm, especially for the Er-doped NCD films, which contain a higher amount of grain boundaries than single-crystalline diamond.