Creation and Characterization of Buried Microstructures in Diamond by Ion Implantation

At the end of range of MeV ions in diamond, black spots are created corresponding to the Bragg peak in the stopping power; the characteristics of which are not well understood but may have application in the micromachining of diamond, quantum state storage and diamond based photonic devices. This paper reports on the initial findings of studies to determine the physical properties of these buried black spots, while exploring how to optimally fabricate microstructures within the diamond. The authors have created buried 3-D structures in single crystal diamond by means of deep implantation with a focussed ion microbeam, over a wide range of fluences. Characterization is performed with confocal Raman spectroscopy.