Top-down fabrication of high-uniformity nanodiamonds by self-assembled block copolymer masks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a top-down method using self-assembled block copolymer masks to produce highly uniform nanodiamonds with single quantum emitters, advancing quantum technology applications.

Contribution

The study develops a novel fabrication process combining block copolymer self-assembly and reactive ion etching to create uniformly-sized nanodiamonds with integrated quantum emitters.

Findings

Produced 30.0±5.4 nm uniform nanodiamonds

Detected emission from single nitrogen vacancy centres

Enabled large-area patterning of nanodiamonds

Abstract

Nanodiamonds hosting colour centres are a promising material platform for various quantum technologies. The fabrication of non-aggregated and uniformly-sized nanodiamonds with systematic integration of single quantum emitters has so far been lacking. Here, we present a top-down fabrication method to produce 30.0$\pm$5.4 nm uniformly-sized single-crystal nanodiamonds by block copolymer self-assembled nanomask patterning together with directional and isotropic reactive ion etching. We show detected emission from bright single nitrogen vacancy centres hosted in the fabricated nanodiamonds. The lithographically precise patterning of large areas of diamond by self-assembled masks and their release into uniformly sized nanodiamonds open up new possibilities for quantum information processing and sensing.