Comparison of different oxidation techniques on single-crystal and nanocrystalline diamond surfaces

Various oxidation techniques (plasma-beam, sulfo-chromic acid, UV-ozone, heating in air) were applied to single-crystalline (111) and (100) diamond surfaces as well as nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films and analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) with respect to oxygen content and type of carbon–oxygen groups formed upon oxidation. Due to their increased surface, NCD films show a significantly higher oxygen uptake as compared to their single-crystal counterparts. No marked differences were observed between the different oxidation techniques. For all oxidation techniques used, several carbon–oxygen groups are simultaneously present on the surface. The relative fraction of singly-oxidized carbon atoms (attributed to isolated ether or epoxy-like groups) generally decreases slightly with increasing oxygen content, but always remains the dominating species.