TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence for Primal sp2 Defects at the Diamond Surface: Candidates for Electron Trapping and Noise Sources
AU - Stacey, Alastair
AU - Dontschuk, Nikolai
AU - Chou, Jyh-Pin
AU - Broadway, David A.
AU - Schenk, Alex K.
AU - Sear, Michael J.
AU - Tetienne, Jean-Philippe
AU - Hoffman, Alon
AU - Prawer, Steven
AU - Pakes, Chris I.
AU - Tadich, Anton
AU - de Leon, Nathalie P.
AU - Gali, Adam
AU - Hollenberg, Lloyd C. L.
PY - 2019/2/8
Y1 - 2019/2/8
N2 - Many advanced applications of diamond materials are now being limited by unknown surface defects, including in the fields of high power/frequency electronics and quantum computing and quantum sensing. Of acute interest to diamond researchers worldwide is the loss of quantum coherence in near-surface nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers and the generation of associated magnetic noise at the diamond surface. Here for the first time is presented the observation of a family of primal diamond surface defects, which is suggested as the leading cause of band-bending and Fermi-pinning phenomena in diamond devices. A combination of density functional theory and synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy is used to show that these defects introduce low-lying electronic trap states. The effect of these states is modeled on band-bending into the diamond bulk and it is shown that the properties of the important NV defect centers are affected by these defects. Due to the paramount importance of near-surface NV center properties in a growing number of fields, the density of these defects is further quantified at the surface of a variety of differently-treated device surfaces, consistent with best-practice processing techniques in the literature. The identification and characterization of these defects has wide-ranging implications for diamond devices across many fields.
AB - Many advanced applications of diamond materials are now being limited by unknown surface defects, including in the fields of high power/frequency electronics and quantum computing and quantum sensing. Of acute interest to diamond researchers worldwide is the loss of quantum coherence in near-surface nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers and the generation of associated magnetic noise at the diamond surface. Here for the first time is presented the observation of a family of primal diamond surface defects, which is suggested as the leading cause of band-bending and Fermi-pinning phenomena in diamond devices. A combination of density functional theory and synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy is used to show that these defects introduce low-lying electronic trap states. The effect of these states is modeled on band-bending into the diamond bulk and it is shown that the properties of the important NV defect centers are affected by these defects. Due to the paramount importance of near-surface NV center properties in a growing number of fields, the density of these defects is further quantified at the surface of a variety of differently-treated device surfaces, consistent with best-practice processing techniques in the literature. The identification and characterization of these defects has wide-ranging implications for diamond devices across many fields.
U2 - 10.1002/admi.201801449
DO - 10.1002/admi.201801449
M3 - Article
VL - 6
JO - Advanced Materials Interfaces
JF - Advanced Materials Interfaces
SN - 2196-7350
IS - 3
ER -