First Plasma Atomic Layer Etching of Diamond via O$_2$/Kr Chemistry
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866911535244247040 |
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| author | Tran, Duc Duy Mannequin, Cedric Traore, Aboulaye Sasaki, Masahiro Gheeraert, Etienne |
| author_facet | Tran, Duc Duy Mannequin, Cedric Traore, Aboulaye Sasaki, Masahiro Gheeraert, Etienne |
| contents | We report the first plasma atomic layer etching (ALE) process for diamond using a cyclic plasma sequence composed of two separated steps: oxygen surface modification and krypton ion removal. The process is implemented in an inductively coupled plasma reactor using alternating O$_2$ plasma exposure and low-energy Kr ion bombardment.
This cyclic process exhibits the characteristic self-limiting behavior of ALE and enables controlled material removal with atomic-scale precision. An etch depth per cycle of \SI{6.85}{\angstrom} was achieved. Surface analysis reveals that the etched diamond surfaces exhibit lower roughness than the pristine material, while XPS confirms the preservation of the diamond bonding structure and indicates essentially damage-free etching.
These results demonstrate that plasma ALE based on O$_2$/Kr chemistry provides a viable route toward damage-controlled nanoscale processing of diamond, opening new opportunities for advanced device fabrication in power electronics, photonics, quantum sensing and quantum computing technologies. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_21159 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | First Plasma Atomic Layer Etching of Diamond via O$_2$/Kr Chemistry Tran, Duc Duy Mannequin, Cedric Traore, Aboulaye Sasaki, Masahiro Gheeraert, Etienne Materials Science Applied Physics Plasma Physics We report the first plasma atomic layer etching (ALE) process for diamond using a cyclic plasma sequence composed of two separated steps: oxygen surface modification and krypton ion removal. The process is implemented in an inductively coupled plasma reactor using alternating O$_2$ plasma exposure and low-energy Kr ion bombardment. This cyclic process exhibits the characteristic self-limiting behavior of ALE and enables controlled material removal with atomic-scale precision. An etch depth per cycle of \SI{6.85}{\angstrom} was achieved. Surface analysis reveals that the etched diamond surfaces exhibit lower roughness than the pristine material, while XPS confirms the preservation of the diamond bonding structure and indicates essentially damage-free etching. These results demonstrate that plasma ALE based on O$_2$/Kr chemistry provides a viable route toward damage-controlled nanoscale processing of diamond, opening new opportunities for advanced device fabrication in power electronics, photonics, quantum sensing and quantum computing technologies. |
| title | First Plasma Atomic Layer Etching of Diamond via O$_2$/Kr Chemistry |
| topic | Materials Science Applied Physics Plasma Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.21159 |