A modified plasma immersed solid-phase impurity assisted doping geometry for the creation of highly fluorescent CVD nanodiamond

A vertically aligned solid impurity source immersed into the CVD plasma results in diamond thin film with significantly higher color center related fluorescence signal, than the horizontal and source-free arrangements.

Based on the example of negatively charged silicon-vacancy (SiV−) center, we demonstrated that the emission peak intensity of fluorescent nanodiamond structures prepared in such a way can be 7–10 times enhanced without significant alteration of the crystal quality. The observed phenomenon is explained by the increased number of incorporated silicon impurities into the diamond nanocrystals, initiated by the beneficial conditions for the atomization of the vertically aligned impurity source, including the enlarged contact area and the elevated surface temperature.