Remote hydrogen plasma treatment (RHPT) of ion implanted CVD diamond

Defects formation of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond on 4He2+ irradiation and after remote hydrogen plasma treatment (RHPT) were investigated by cathodoluminescence (CL). For the RHPT, the substrate was kept away from direct plasma ball while it was treated for 0.5 to 2 h. As calculated in the TRIM simulation, the light elements of 4He2+ can be penetrated into the diamond bulk structure at 3–4 μm depth. The effects of the implantation region were observed when 5–20 keV electron energy (understanding of 0.3–4.0 μm) of CL measurement was irradiated to diamond at a temperature of 80 K. After the RHPT, rehybridization of irradiation damaged diamond was studied. The intensity of 5RL center (intrinsic defect of C) was diminished. The 2.16 eV center (N-V center) occurring usually by annealing could not be seen after RHPT. It seemed that the diamond was not influenced to reconvert its structure by high temperature annealing. The diamond was rehybridized by hydrogen radicals without etching by the RHPT.