Polishing, preparation and patterning of diamond for device applications

Abstract Central to future electronic device developments in diamond is the provision of smooth, low defect density substrate materials. This review examines plasma treatments of diamond to enable smoothing of rough surfaces, the removal of damage created by various non-plasma polishing processes previously applied and for patterning into device structures. The favoured reported plasma treatments for surface smoothing are detailed. The characterisation, effectiveness and other fabrication considerations of each plasma process are discussed. Despite significant recent progress the processing technology associated with plasma-etching diamond remains immature when compared to those used for conventional semiconductor materials.