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Advanced Optical Materials

High‐Quality Free‐Standing Diamond Micromembranes for Nanoscale Quantum Sensing

Alexander C. Pakpour‐Tabrizi, Artur Lozovoi, Sean Karg, Tecla Bottinelli Montandon, M.Y. LEUNG, Kai-Hung Cheng, Nathalie P. de Leon

Published Mar 1, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

ABSTRACT Deploying nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond as nanoscale quantum sensors for condensed matter and materials physics requires placing the NV centers close to the sensing target. One solution is to fabricate diamond nanostructures and integrate them with materials and devices. However, diamond etching and ion milling can introduce subsurface damage and surface defects that degrade the charge stability and spin coherence of NV centers near the surface. Here, we report a procedure for fabricating low‐damage free‐standing diamond micromembranes, and we show that this fabrication scheme preserves the optical and spin properties of state‐of‐the‐art shallow NV center quantum sensors, within nanometers of the diamond surface, while providing significant photonic enhancement. Furthermore, we demonstrate a pick‐and‐place transfer method, which enables integration with diverse sensing targets.

DOI
10.1002/adom.202503864

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ABSTRACT Deploying nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond as nanoscale quantum sensors for condensed matter and materials physics requires placing the NV centers close to the sensing target. One solution is to fabricate diamond nanostructures and integrate them with materials and devices. However, diamond etching and ion milling can introduce subsurface damage and surface defects that degrade the charge stability and spin coherence of NV centers near the surface. Here, we report a procedure for fabricating low‐damage free‐standing diamond micromembranes, and we show that this fabrication scheme preserves the optical and spin properties of state‐of‐the‐art shallow NV center quantum sensors, within nanometers of the diamond surface, while providing significant photonic enhancement. Furthermore, we demonstrate a pick‐and‐place transfer method, which enables integration with diverse sensing targets.
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ABSTRACT Dense, ultra‐shallow (<10 nm from the surface) ensembles of nitrogen‐vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are sought‐after for realising practical quantum sensing at the nanoscale. However, these ensembles typically suffer from reduced NV creation efficiency and spin coherence compared to their deeper and bulk counterparts. Consequently, most demonstrations in the literature to date have been restricted to using single NV centers with atypical coherence and charge stability properties not achievable across entire ensembles. In this work, we demonstrate that controlled annealing in a high purity forming gas atmosphere improves near‐surface NV formation efficiency to over 20%. This environment preserves a high quality hydrogen termination throughout the anneal, avoiding material etching over many hours at temperatures up to 1100°C and possibly helping to suppress vacancy out‐diffusion. We show that high temperature annealing is especially vital for improving spin properties in high density, ultra‐shallow implanted samples due to the localised damage profiles produced. By allowing the formation of high yield NV ensembles with improved spin properties, the optimised forming gas anneal can facilitate the reliable production of more sensitive diamond sensors than have previously been accessible.
High spatial resolution quantum sensing of near-surface nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond has enabled detection of magnetic, electrical, and thermal signals at the nanoscale. At depths of just a few nanometers, NV centers serve as localized quantum probes for external spins or low-dimensional materials, but their proximity to the surface also enhances decoherence caused by fluctuating nuclear spins. While advances in surface engineering have stabilized the charge state of NV centers at depths of tens of nanometers, achieving both ultra-shallow implantation (0.5-2 nm) and long-term spin coherence remains a central challenge. In this work, we show using first-principles modeling that, by exploiting the interaction of surface-induced strain and weak dc magnetic fields, the spin coherence times of 1-nm-deep NV centers can be greatly improved near the spin-phonon-confined regime at room temperature in 12C-rich diamonds. We also demonstrate that this protocol benefits ~ 10-nm-deep NV centers in natural diamond, enabling vector magnetometry at the nanoscale. Shallow NV centers in diamond are advantageous for quantum sensing but suffer from surface magnetic noise. Using first-principles simulations supported by experiments, the authors show that a combination of small magnetic fields and surface strain can significantly enhance spin coherence of 1 nm-deep NV centers.
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We investigate native nitrogen (NV) and silicon vacancy (SiV) color centers in commercially available, heteroepitaxial, wafer-sized, mm thick, single-crystal diamond. We observe single, native NV centers with a density of roughly 1 NV per μm3μm^3μm3 and moderate coherence time (T2=5μsT_2 = 5 μsT2​=5μs) embedded in an ensemble of SiV centers. Low-temperature spectroscopy of the SiV zero phonon line fine structure witnesses high crystalline quality of the diamond especially close to the growth surface, consistent with a reduced dislocation density. Using ion implantation and plasma etching, we verify the possibility to fabricate nanostructures with shallow color centers rendering our diamond material promising for fabrication of nanoscale sensing devices. As this diamond is available in wafer-sizes up to 100mm100 mm100mm it offers the opportunity to up-scale diamond-based device fabrication.
Herein, methods for the fabrication of monolithic diamond integrated photonic devices via Faraday cage‐angled etching of functional epitaxial diamond layers are presented. Optimal waveguide width is determined via simulation and the fabrication of nitrogen vacancy (NV) center‐doped microring resonators is demonstrated. The performance of the devices is verified via microphotoluminescence as well as cathodoluminescence scans of the in‐grown NV centers, revealing clearly visible cavity lines. The scalable fabrication method allows for the realization of large numbers of lateral waveguide structures as needed for future applications in integrated quantum sensing devices as well as novel spin‐based quantum computers.