Generation of Ensembles of Individually Resolvable Nitrogen Vacancies Using Nanometer-Scale Apertures in Ultrahigh-Aspect Ratio Planar Implantation Masks

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for fabricating nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond with sub-20 nm localization using nanometer-scale apertures, enabling the creation of resolvable NV ensembles for quantum applications.

Contribution

It introduces a high-throughput technique employing ultrathin masks with nanometer features to precisely generate NV centers with ultra-small separations.

Findings

NV centers with ~26 nm localization achieved

NV-NV separations of ~16 nm demonstrated

High-resolution imaging confirms precise NV placement

Abstract

A central challenge in developing magnetically coupled quantum registers in diamond is the fabrication of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers with localization below ~20 nm to enable fast dipolar interaction compared to the NV decoherence rate. Here, we demonstrate the targeted, high throughput formation of NV centers using masks with a thickness of 270 nm and feature sizes down to ~1 nm. Super-resolution imaging resolves NVs with a full-width maximum distribution of $26\pm7$ nm and a distribution of NV-NV separations of $16\pm5$ nm.