Diamond is well known as a gemstone, but it is also an outstanding industrial material with exceptional physical properties, such as extreme hardness, high thermal conductivity, and chemical stability. In addition, diamond is a highly promising wide-bandgap semiconductor for next-generation high-power electronic devices. More recently, diamond has attracted significant attention for quantum technologies, particularly due to nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers, which enable ultra-sensitive sensing applications and open perspectives toward room-temperature quantum computing.
In this presentation, the synthesis of diamond by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) will be discussed, with a focus on the fundamental mechanisms governing diamond growth. Key process parameters will be introduced and correlated with the structural properties of the grown layers.
Beyond growth optimization, doping is a key step in tailoring diamond properties. By introducing controlled impurities, the electrical conductivity of diamond can be tuned, while its optical and even mechanical properties may also be significantly modified. As a result, doping plays a central role in enabling diamond-based applications such as power electronics and emerging quantum technologies.
Special attention will then be given to the growth of doped diamond by PECVD, focusing on the three most relevant dopants for electronic and quantum applications: boron, phosphorus, and nitrogen. The key parameters governing dopant incorporation will be discussed, with an emphasis on epitaxial growth.
Finally, recent results from our group will be presented, along with current research directions and remaining challenges in the field.