Optimization of shallow surface Nitrogen Vacancy yield with Hot Implant of Nitrogen-Implanted Diamond

Nitrogen vacancies (NVs) are diamond defects with long coherence times with excellent magnetic sensitivity. For AC sensing and sensing of small length scales, a shallow surface NV layer is desired. However, the standard process of nitrogen implant followed by anneal has low yield at the surface, and increasing the implantation density results in greater P1 impurities in the diamond and can lead to graphitization. Improved NV yield has previously been demonstrated by introducing new vacancies through carbon co-implantation at high temperatures, which introduces no new impurities and allows the lattice to heal in situ. With techniques such as double electron electron resonance (DEER), we explore the dynamics of carbon implants at high temperatures ("hot implant") on nitrogen-implanted diamonds towards optimizing creation efficiency of shallow surface NV layers.