Polishing of {100} and {111} single crystal diamond through the use of Chemical Mechanical Polishing

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the effective polishing of single crystal diamond surfaces using standard chemical mechanical polishing, significantly reducing surface roughness for both {100} and {111} orientations.

Contribution

It applies silicon industry CMP techniques to diamond, achieving ultra-smooth surfaces on single crystal diamond for the first time.

Findings

Surface roughness reduced from 0.92 to 0.23 nm RMS for {100}

Surface roughness reduced from 0.31 to 0.09 nm RMS for {111}

CMP effectively polishes diamond surfaces

Abstract

Diamond is one of the hardest and most difficult to polish materials. In this paper, the polishing of {111} and {100} single crystal diamond surfaces by standard Chemical Mechanical Polishing, as used in the silicon industry, is demonstrated. A Logitech Tribo Chemical Mechanical Polishing system with Logitech SF1 Syton and a polyurethane/polyester polishing pad was used. A reduction in roughness from 0.92 to 0.23 nm root mean square (RMS) and 0.31 to 0.09 nm RMS for {100} and {111} samples respectively was observed.