Exceptionally pure epitaxial diamond layers have been grown by microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition, which have low boron doping, from 5 × 10 14 to 1 × 10 16 cm −3 , and the compensating n-type impurities are the lowest reported for any semiconducting diamond, <3 × 10 13 cm −3 . The hydrogen impurities that bind with the boron making them electrically inactive can be significantly reduced by baking the diamond to >700 • C for ∼1 s in air. Schottky diodes made on these epitaxial diamond films have breakdown voltages >6 kV, twelve times the highest breakdown voltage reported for any diamond diode and higher than any other semiconductor Schottky diode.
Single-crystal optical waveguides of 4-dimethylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium tosylate (DAST), an organic material with a large electro-optic coefficient, have been obtained. DAST decomposes at its melting temperature, making its growth from the melt difficult. However, graphoepitaxy allows for >1 mm s−1 growth, 1×105 times faster than conventional techniques, and produces crystals of the correct dimensions for optical waveguides, 1–15 μm on a side and 5–10 mm long. The crystals grow with the c-axis normal to the substrate, and with in-plane orientation determined by lithographic patterning. The electro-optic coefficient dn/dE is 600±300 pm V−1 at 1.55 μm wavelength. Optical losses are <10 dB cm−1.
Immersion interference lithography was used to pattern gratings with 22-nm half pitch. This ultrahigh resolution was made possible by using 157-nm light, a sapphire coupling prism with index 2.09, and a 30-nm-thick immersion fluid with index 1.82. The thickness was controlled precisely by spin-casting the fluid rather than through mechanical means. The photoresist was a diluted version of a 193-nm material, which had a 157-nm index of 1.74. An analysis of the trade-off between fluid index, absorption coefficient, gap size and throughput indicated that, among the currently available materials, employing a high-index but absorbing fluid is preferable to using a highly transparent but low-index immersion media.
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