A perspective of doping in diamond: From nanoelectronics to quantum applications

Abstract

Diamond is a material that has been previously considered for nanoelectronic applications and more recently for quantum computing. Despite its advantageous physical properties, the difficulty to dope n-type diamond had been a major drawback to create efficient semiconductor devices based on diamond. Interestingly, nitrogen doping and, in particular, nitrogen–vacancy pairs are keys to integrate diamond in quantum computing. Here, we consider p-type and n-type doping in diamond, particularly, on the challenges to dope n-type diamond. We discuss defect engineering strategies, which should be focused on phosphorous as it is the most promising n-type dopant in diamond. We consider in detail the importance of diamond as a quantum host and the nitrogen–vacancy center as a qubit. Finally, we discuss doping strategies that can become important for quantum computing and technical details in theoretical methods.