Jing Jixiang, Sun Fuqiang, Wang Zhongqiang, Ma Linjie, Luo Yumeng, Du Zhiyuan, Zhang Tianyu, Wang Yicheng, Xu Feng, Zhang Tongtong, Chen Changsheng, Ma Xuhang, He Yang, Zhu Ye, Sun Huarui, Wang Xinqiang, Zhou Yan, Tsoi James Kit Hon, Wrachtrup Jörg, Wong Ngai, Li Can, Ki Dong-Keun, Wang Qi, Li Kwai Hei, Lin Yuan, Chu Zhiqin
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Dongguan Institute of Opto-Electronics, Peking University, Dongguan, China.
Nature. 2024 Dec;636(8043):627-634. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08218-x. Epub 2024 Dec 18.
Diamond is an exceptional material with great potential across various fields owing to its interesting properties. However, despite extensive efforts over the past decades, producing large quantities of desired ultrathin diamond membranes for widespread use remains challenging. Here we demonstrate that edge-exposed exfoliation using sticky tape is a simple, scalable and reliable method for producing ultrathin and transferable polycrystalline diamond membranes. Our approach enables the mass production of large-area (2-inch wafer), ultrathin (sub-micrometre thickness), ultraflat (sub-nano surface roughness) and ultraflexible (360° bendable) diamond membranes. These high-quality membranes, which have a flat workable surface, support standard micromanufacturing techniques, and their ultraflexible nature allows for direct elastic strain engineering and deformation sensing applications, which is not possible with their bulky counterpart. Systematic experimental and theoretical studies reveal that the quality of the exfoliated membranes depends on the peeling angle and membrane thickness, for which largely intact diamond membranes can be robustly produced within an optimal operation window. This single-step method, which opens up new avenues for the mass production of high-figure-of-merit diamond membranes, is expected to accelerate the commercialization and arrival of the diamond era in electronics, photonics and other related fields.
金刚石是一种具有特殊性质的材料，因其有趣的特性而在各个领域具有巨大潜力。然而，尽管在过去几十年里付出了巨大努力，但要大量生产出广泛应用所需的超薄金刚石膜仍然具有挑战性。在此，我们证明使用胶带进行边缘暴露剥离是一种简单、可扩展且可靠的方法，可用于生产超薄且可转移的多晶金刚石膜。我们的方法能够大规模生产大面积（2英寸晶圆）、超薄（亚微米厚度）、超平坦（亚纳米表面粗糙度）和超柔韧（可360°弯曲）的金刚石膜。这些高质量的膜具有平坦的可加工表面，支持标准的微制造技术，并且它们的超柔韧特性允许进行直接的弹性应变工程和变形传感应用，而其体积较大的同类产品则无法做到这一点。系统的实验和理论研究表明，剥离膜的质量取决于剥离角度和膜的厚度，在最佳操作窗口内可以稳定地生产出大部分完整的金刚石膜。这种单步方法为高质量金刚石膜的大规模生产开辟了新途径，有望加速金刚石在电子、光子学和其他相关领域的商业化进程以及金刚石时代的到来。
