Incorporation of nitrogen in diamond films – a new way of tuning parameters for optical passive elements

This paper investigates the impact of nitrogen incorporation in diamond films for the construction of an interferometric sensor to measure displacement. Diamond films with different nitrogen levels (0–5%) were deposited on silicon substrates by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The structural characteristics of these samples are characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy, and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). The homogeneous and continuous surface morphology of the films is observed through SEM. In the micro-Raman and electron energy loss spectroscopy studies, it is evident that there is a formation of sp2-bonded carbon phases due to the increase in the concentration of nitrogen. This investigation gives a strong basis for utilizing these diamond films as reflective layers in fiber-optic devices. The interferometric measurement setup is constructed as a Fabry-Pérot interferometer. The nitrogen incorporated films are proved to be useful as mirrors as they achieve a measurement signal with high contrast. The achieved visibility values for the investigated samples are higher than 94% in the range of 40–100 μm.