Microwave plasma-assisted photoluminescence enhancement in nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond film

Optical properties and conductivity of nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystal diamond (UNCD) films were investigated following treatment with low energy microwave plasma at room temperature. The plasma also generated vacancies in UNCD films and provided heat for mobilizing the vacancies to combine with the impurities, which formed the nitrogen-vacancy defect centers. The generated color centers were distributed uniformly in the samples. The conductivity of nitrogen-doped UNCD films treated by microwave plasma was found to decrease slightly due to the reduced grain boundaries. The photoluminescence emitted by the plasma treated nitrogen-doped UNCD films was enhanced significantly compared to the untreated films.