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Plasma-assisted chemical mechanical polishing of single-crystal diamond for atomically smooth surfaces
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DOI：10.1016/j.diamond.2026.114013.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Single crystal diamond (SCD) is a promising high-performance substrate material for fourth-generation integrated circuits. However, its extreme hardness and chemical inertness render efficient, high-quality polishing a significant challenge. Here, we propose a synergistic approach combining nitrogen (N2) plasma treatment with chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) to achieve highly efficient polishing of SCD substrates. The N2 plasma treatment directly removes carbon atoms from the substrate while simultaneously generating a softened amorphous carbon layer on the diamond surface. This softened layer is subsequently removed by mechanical action during the CMP process. The results indicate that increasing the radio frequency power, decreasing the N2 flow rate, and extending the plasma treatment time all promote the formation of a thicker amorphous layer. This facilitates the removal of carbon atoms during CMP, thereby reducing surface roughness. However, excessive plasma exposure thickens the subsurface damage layer and induces the formation of numerous etch pits, leading to an increase in roughness. By optimizing the plasma parameters and integrating them with the CMP process, we achieved a low surface roughness of 0.1 nm and a shallow subsurface damage depth of 3 nm, demonstrating the potential of this method for atomic-scale fine polishing of SCD substrates.
Keywords:
Single-crystal diamond
Nitrogen plasma
Chemical mechanical polishing
Amorphous layers
Atomic scale
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