title: Scalable fabrication of high-quality, ultra-thin single crystal diamond membrane windows.
abstract: High quality, ultra-thin single crystal diamond (SCD) membranes that have a thickness in the sub-micron range are of extreme importance as a materials platform for photonics, quantum sensing, nano/micro electro-mechanical systems (N/MEMS) and other diverse applications. However, the scalable fabrication of such thin SCD membranes is a challenging process. In this paper, we demonstrate a new method which enables high quality, large size (∼4 × 4 mm) and low surface roughness, low strain, ultra-thin SCD membranes which can be fabricated without deformations such as breakage, bowing or bending. These membranes are easy to handle making them particularly suitable for fabrication of optical and mechanical devices. We demonstrate arrays of single crystal diamond membrane windows (SCDMW), each up to 1 × 1 mm in dimension and as thin as ∼300 nm, supported by a diamond frame as thick as ∼150 μm. The fabrication method is robust, reproducible, scalable and cost effective. Microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition is used for in situ creation of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers into the thin SCDMW. We have also developed SCD drum head mechanical resonator composed of our fully clamped and freely suspended membranes.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. s.prawer@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Afaq Habib
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Piracha
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. s.prawer@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kumaravelu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ganesan
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. s.prawer@unimelb.edu.au and ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia.
authors.forename: Desmond W M
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. s.prawer@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Alastair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stacey
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. s.prawer@unimelb.edu.au and Institute for Quantum Optics, University Ulm, Ulm, D-89081, Germany.
authors.forename: Liam P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: McGuinness
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. s.prawer@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Snjezana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomljenovic-Hanic
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. s.prawer@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prawer