Fabrication of Vertically Aligned Diamond Whiskers from Highly Boron-Doped Diamond by Oxygen Plasma Etching

Conductive diamond whiskers were fabricated by maskless oxygen plasma etching on highly boron-doped diamond substrates. The effects of the etching conditions and the boron concentration in diamond on the whisker morphology and overall substrate coverage were investigated. High boron-doping levels (greater than 8.4 × 1020 cm−3) are crucial for the formation of the nanosized, densely packed whiskers with diameter of ca. 20 nm, length of ca. 200 nm, and density of ca. 3.8 × 1010 cm−2 under optimal oxygen plasma etching conditions (10 min at a chamber pressure of 20 Pa). Confocal Raman mapping and scanning electron microscopy illustrate that the boron distribution in the diamond surface region is consistent with the distribution of whisker sites. The boron dopant atoms in the diamond appear to lead to the initial fine column formation. This simple method could provide a facile, cost-effective means for the preparation of conductive nanostructured diamond materials for electrochemical applications as well as electron emission devices.