Stress engineering of boron doped diamond thin films via micro-fabrication

In this paper, a novel approach is presented to tailor the stress properties of diamond thin films via boron doping and micro-fabrication of bridges using focused ion beam milling. The experimental data, based on detailed confocal micro-Raman investigations, are supported and interpreted through finite element method calculations of the stress distribution at mechanical equilibrium. These results indicate that appropriate design of microbridge geometries, together with boron doping, would allow the material stress to be largely enhanced or diminished compared to non-patterned thin films. Our approach, together with a deterministic incorporation and positioning of diamond color centers, may open novel opportunities to tailor the optical and spin properties of diamond-based quantum devices through stress engineering.