Optical properties of single crystal diamond microfilms fabricated by ion implantation and lift-off processing

Abstract

We report the fabrication and optical characterisation of ~1 μm thick films of single crystal diamond prepared by an ion implantation and lift-off process. A comparison is made between type 1b material grown by high-temperature high-pressure and high purity type 2a material grown by chemical vapour deposition. Our results show that the fabrication process does not suppress strong emission from nitrogen-vacancy colour centres in the type 1b material. The 1332 cm - 1 Raman line normally prominent in the CVD material is found to be strongly suppressed. A 20 nm thick damaged layer of sp 3 carbon is identified on the underside of the films that indicates residual damage from the implantation proc..