Controlled incorporation of mid-to-high Z transition metals in CVD diamond

We report on a general method to fabricate transition metal related defects in diamond. Controlled incorporation of Mo and W in synthetic CVD diamond was achieved by adding volatile metal precursors to the diamond chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth process. Effects of deposition temperature, grain structure and precursor exposure on the incorporation efficiency were systematically studied, and doping levels of up to 0.25 at.% have been achieved. The metal atoms are uniformly distributed throughout the diamond grains without any indication of inclusion formation. These results are discussed in context of the kinetically controlled growth process of CVD diamond.