Identification of Dislocations in Synthetic Chemically Vapor Deposited Diamond Single Crystals

High purity chemically vapor deposited (CVD) diamond single crystals are now widely available. However, the reduction of dislocations in this material still remains an important challenge that will strongly condition its adoption in areas such as optics, electronics, and spintronics, where these defects have a disastrous effect on the properties. In this work we report on a methodology that allows a complete identification of the type, density, and distribution of dislocations in a high quality CVD single crystal. A good agreement between all characterization techniques was established. When the surface is adequately prepared, a simple plasma etching allows evidencing 2 main dislocation types: 45° mixed and edge, with the latter one being dominant with a density of around 4.5 × 104 cm–2. This investigation paves the way to the development of a quick and simple process to analyze dislocations toward getting a better understanding of their impact on the material properties and eventually elaborating strategies to eliminate them.