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Updated: Jan 4, 2026
Single-Digit Nanometer Electron-Beam Lithography with an Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope
Published on: September 14, 2018
Diamond Etching Beyond 10 μm with Near-Zero Micromasking
Marie-Laure Hicks1, Alexander C Pakpour-Tabrizi1, Richard B Jackman2
1London Centre for Nanotechnology & Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, 17-19 Gordon Street, WC1H 0AH, London, UK.
Abstract:
To exploit the exceptional properties of diamond, new high quality fabrication techniques are needed to produce high performing devices. Etching and patterning diamond to depths beyond one micron has proven challenging due to the hardness and chemical resistance of diamond. A new cyclic Ar/O2 - Ar/Cl2 ICP RIE process has been developed to address micromasking issues from the aluminium mask by optimising the proportion of O2 in the plasma and introducing a preferential "cleaning" step. High quality smooth features up to, but not limited to, 10.6 μm were produced with an average etched surface roughness of 0.47 nm at a diamond etch rate of 45 nm/min and 16.9:1 selectivity.
