Ultrathin Nanocrystalline Diamond Films with Silicon Vacancy Color Centers via Seeding by 2 nm Detonation Nanodiamonds

Abstract

Color centers in diamonds have shown excellent potential for applications in quantum information processing, photonics, and biology. Here we report chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films as thin as 5-6 nm with photoluminescence (PL) from silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers at 739 nm. Instead of conventional 4-6 nm detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs), we prepared and employed hydrogenated 2 nm DNDs (zeta potential = +36 mV) to form extremely dense (∼1.3 × 10 cm), thin (2 ± 1 nm), and smooth (RMS roughness < 0.8 nm) nucleation layers on an Si/SiO substrate, which enabled the CVD growth of such ultrathin NCD films in two different and complementary microwave (MW) CVD systems: (i) focused MW plasma with an ellipsoidal cavity resonator and (ii) pulsed MW plasma with a linear antenna arrangement. Analytical ultracentrifuge, infrared and Raman spectroscopies, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy are used for detailed characterization of the 2 nm H-DNDs and the nucleation layer as well as the ultrathin NCD films. We also demonstrate on/off switching of the SiV center PL in the NCD films thinner than 10 nm, which is achieved by changing their surface chemistry.

Hydroxylation and self-assembly of colloidal hydrogenated nanodiamonds by aqueous oxygen radicals from atmospheric pressure plasma jet

“…to the colloidal stability limit, may lead to very dense coverage and nucleation density. 6,9 However we do not observe such an effect here. Although the AOR treatment leads to the ZP decrease to around +30 mV, the AORtreated H-DNDs rather form aggregates than a denser coverage.…”

“…Another aim in modifying the surface of NDs' is to tune their physico-chemical properties, like the surface potential or hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity. Such a tuning might, for instance, control the NDs' aggregation, 6 electrostatically-driven attachment to various substrates [7][8][9] or efficiency of lling the composites. 10,11 A plasma chemical approach as a surface chemistry modication tool brings several benets over other more conventional methods represented by wet chemistry or thermal treatments.…”

“…Specically, due to weakening of the hydrogen bonds (HB) on the H-ND surface, 37,45 the hydration shell of H-NDs is signicantly thinner than of O-NDs resulting in DLS size discrepancy of particles with otherwise identical ND core. 9 Second, hydrogen is known to be relatively efficient in disruption of the primary ND clusters (core agglutinates) 48 thus helping to release truly individual DND particles. It is probably the hydrogen ability to penetrate into the ND inter-particle boundaries and react there with the ND surface, 49 thus passivating the DND surface and efficiently breaking up the core agglutinates.…”

Immobilization of Detonation Nanodiamonds on Macroscopic Surfaces

“…The aim of the current study is to investigate the immobilization strategy of NDs as a coating material in combination with metallic implant materials. ND coatings for further chemical vapor deposition (CVD) treatments are widely discussed [37][38][39]. These coatings are based on electrostatic interactions and van der Waals forces of the substrates and NDs.…”

Hyperbolic metamaterial resonator–antenna scheme for large, broadband emission enhancement and single-photon collection

“…Additionally, this model is particularly interesting as it can be applied to enhance emission of single photon sources not only in nanoparticles emitters but also in thin layer. This design can be extended to the case of emitters embedded in diamond [48] or SiC thin-films by replacing the middle ZnS layer.…”