Site-Controlled Carbon Implantation for Quantum Emitter Engineering in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

作者：Yuntao Wu, Xuhong Guo, Pengtao Jing, Guanlin Liu, Zhen Cheng, Jilian Xu, Yang Bao, Hai Xu, Ligong Zhang, Da Zhan, Jiaxu Yan, Lei Liu, Dezhen Shen · 发表于：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acsami.5c16791 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research、Graphene research and applications、Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies

Position-controlled quantum defects in 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), providing addressed and controllable quantum states, are important candidates for quantum technologies. Although carbon-doped defect-related single-photon emitters (SPEs) in h-BN have been extensively studied, the fabrication of position-controlled carbon-defect SPEs in h-BN has not yet been achieved. This study presents a novel two-step method involving helium ion (He + ) focused ion beam (FIB) nanopatterning combined with post-FIB thermal treatment for the highly controlled fabrication of carbon-defect-related SPEs in h-BN. In the first step, He + FIB, utilizing precise control of ion energy and dose, creates localized lattice defects or vacancies at predetermined positions with sub-30 nm spatial resolution. These engineered defects serve as preferential incorporation sites. The second step involves high-temperature annealing in a methane atmosphere. This facilitates selective incorporation of carbon atoms into the predefined defect sites, forming carbon-related defect complexes that act as bright quantum emitters. A secondary annealing step in air is then used to remove surface-deposited amorphous carbon, significantly enhancing the SPE quality. The resulting emitters achieve high brightness up to 6.7 × 10 6 counts per second and exhibit enhanced single-photon purity ( g 2 (0) < 0.2). It establishes a foundation for the scalable production of precisely positioned SPE arrays in h-BN, paving the way fo...