XPS analysis of molecular contamination and sp2 amorphous carbon on oxidized (100) diamond

TL;DR

This study systematically compares various oxidation techniques on (100) diamond surfaces using XPS, revealing how different methods influence oxygen coverage, molecular contamination, and sp2 carbon content, with dry oxidation and ALD being most effective.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, rigorous XPS analysis of multiple oxidation methods on diamond, establishing correlations between oxygen coverage, contaminants, and sp2 carbon levels.

Findings

Dry oxidation yields highest oxygen coverage.

ALD water vapor method results in cleanest surface.

Molecular contaminants correlate with oxygen atomic percentage.

Abstract

The efficacy of oxygen (O) surface terminations on diamond is an important factor for the performance and stability for diamond-based quantum sensors and electronics. Given the wide breadth of O-termination techniques, it can be difficult to discern which method would yield the highest and most consistent O coverage. Furthermore, the interpretation of surface characterization techniques is complicated by surface morphology and purity, which if not accounted for will yield inconsistent determination of the oxygen coverage. We present a comprehensive approach to consistently prepare and analyze oxygen termination of surfaces on (100) single-crystalline diamond. We report on X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) characterization of diamond surfaces treated with six oxidation methods that include various wet chemical oxidation techniques, photochemical oxidation with UV illumination, and steam oxidation using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Our analysis entails a rigorous XPS peak-fitting procedure for measuring the functionalization of O-terminated diamond. The findings herein have provided molecular-level insights on oxidized surfaces in (100) diamond, including the demonstration of clear correlation between the measured oxygen atomic percentage and the presence of molecular contaminants containing nitrogen, silicon, and sulfur. We also provide a comparison of the sp2 carbon content with the O1s atomic percentage and discern a correlation with the diamond samples treated with dry oxidation which eventually tapers off at a max O1s atomic percentage value of 7.09 +/- 0.40%. Given these results, we conclude that the dry oxidation methods yield some of the highest oxygen amounts, with the ALD water vapor technique proving to be the cleanest technique out of all the oxidation methods explored in this work.