Array of bright silicon-vacancy centers in diamond fabricated by low-energy focused ion beam implantation

Among promising color centers for single-photon sources in diamond, the negatively charged silicon-vacancy (SiV−) has 70% of its emission to the zero-phonon line (ZPL), in contrast to the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV−), which has a broad spectrum. Fabricating single centers of useful defect complexes with high yield and excellent grown-in defect properties by ion implantation has proven to be challenging. We have fabricated bright single SiV− centers by 60-keV focused ion beam implantation and subsequent annealing at 1000 °C with high positioning accuracy and a high yield of 15%.