Electron Beam Assisted Chemical Etching of Single Crystal Diamond Chips (1st Report)

Etching Characteristics and Fabrication of Line and Rectangular Pattern

Abstract

In order to fabricate ultra-precision diamond tools and delineate ultra-fine patterns into diamond chips without adding a radiation damage, etching characteristics of diamond chips with electron beam assisted chemical etching (EBACE) has been investigated. EBACE system is composed of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) which has an oxygen introduction system was used to etch synthetic single crystal diamond chips. When electron beam was focused on diamond surface, very small holes with a diameter of about 0.5-2 μ m, and a depth of about 0.01-0.5 μ m were obtained. Line and rectangular patterns with several μ m and sub-μ m depths were also obtained.