Abstract
Exposure to beams of low-energy electrons (2–30 keV) in a scanning electron microscope locally induces formation of NV-centers without thermal annealing in diamonds that have been implanted with nitrogen ions. We find that non-thermal, electron-beam-induced NV-formation is about four times less efficient than thermal annealing. But NV-center formation in a consecutive thermal annealing step (800 °C) following exposure to low-energy electrons increases by a factor of up to 1.8 compared to thermal annealing alone. These observations point to reconstruction of nitrogen–vacancy complexes induced by electronic excitations from low-energy electrons as an NV-center formation mechanism and identify local electronic excitations as a means for spatially controlled room-temperature NV-center formation.
Highlights
Charged nitrogen-vacancy centers (NV-) in diamond are promising quantum bit candidates [1,2,3] and sensitive probes for high resolution magnetometry [4, 5]
The diamond had been implanted with nitrogen ions and 1 m2 areas were exposed to a 2 keV, 9 pA electron beam at room temperature for exposure times ranging from 0.1 to 100 s
No NV- centers were formed by electron exposure of pristine diamond areas that had not been implanted with nitrogen ions
Summary
Charged nitrogen-vacancy centers (NV-) in diamond are promising quantum bit candidates [1,2,3] and sensitive probes for high resolution magnetometry [4, 5]. The widely accepted model for NV-center formation is the trapping of a vacancy by a substitutional nitrogen atom during thermal annealing [6,7,8,9,10]. The incident particles must transfer sufficient energy, ~35 eV, to displace carbon atoms from their lattice positions and create vacancies and carbon interstitials [13]. Mobile vacancies are trapped by substitutional nitrogen, forming NV-centers [7]. The charge state of NV-centers (NV- or NV0) is sensitive to the local environment as NV- centers capture their additional electron e. The charge state of NV-centers (NV- or NV0) is sensitive to the local environment as NV- centers capture their additional electron e. g. from nearby substitutional nitrogen atoms or surface states [10, 15, 16]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
