Data for Plasma-Assisted Atomic Layer Etching of Single-Crystal Diamond

Applications of near-surface nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are
often limited by surface defects created during processing, including
plasma processes such as etching and surface termination. Understanding
and controlling plasma-induced surface damage is important for preserving
the optical and spin properties of diamond NV centers. This dataset
includes results of classical molecular dynamics simulations of a novel
form of plasma-aided atomic layer etching of diamond thin films. In this
proposed scheme, the initial surface modification step consists of argon
ion bombardment to create an amorphous carbon layer at the surface of the
diamond film. A second ALE step impacts the amorphous carbon layer with O
between about 1 and 5 eV. Simulations included in this dataset show that
this energy range will remove the amorphous carbon but will not etch the
underlying diamond. In addition to the ALE simulations, further
simulations showing the removal of isolated (100) diamond terraces by
oxygen bombardment are included. The proposed ALE approach reverses the
conventional ALE sequence in which the surface modification step is
usually chemical modification (oxidation in this case), followed by a
removal step using argon ion impacts. This plasma ALE procedure is
predicted to create a diamond surface that is atomically flat and defect
free, as is shown by the simulations contained in this dataset.