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200 keV energy electron irradiation of single-crystal diamond: Quantification of vacancy and nitrogen-vacancy production

Chloe C. Newsom, Ben L. Green, and Mark E. Newton*

Lillian B. Hughes Wyatt

Ania C. Bleszynski Jayich

  • *Contact author: M.E.Newton@warwick.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 065203 – Published 28 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hls1-92jc

Abstract

Electron irradiation and annealing treatments are a method of color center/defect creation in diamond. The depth profile of defects created by low-energy 200 keV electrons in single-crystal high-purity (type II) electronic grade diamond grown via chemical vapor deposition has been investigated. The depth profile of monovacancies created was found, using photoluminescence (PL), to decay exponentially, with a decay length 12±1µm and a production rate of (1.1±0.2)×10−1V/e−/cm at the surface. The depth distribution of the neutral and negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV0/1−) center, and the 733 nm zero phonon line defect formed during an isochronal annealing study, have also been investigated by PL. The observed NV profiles, which do not match the vacancy profiles, can be qualitatively explained in terms of a simple model that includes the formation of vacancy clusters and the nitrogen-divacancy (NV2) defect. The production of (NV0/−) has been assumed to be nitrogen-limited, but this paper has shown that this is not the case, with NVs lost to the production of NV2 when the concentration of vacancies greatly exceeds that of substitutional nitrogen.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 065203– Published 28 July, 2026
  • Received 19 November 2025
  • Revised 23 April 2026
  • Accepted 15 June 2026
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