Diamonds Appear in Nature Again!

Diamond is a special material with great application potential in various fields due to its excellent properties. However, despite great efforts in the past few decades, ultrathin diamond films have not been widely used and mass production remains challenging.

 

In light of this, Professor Zhiqin Chu, Professor Yuan Lin from the University of Hong Kong, Professor Qi Wang from the Institute of Optoelectronics, Dongguan, Peking University, and Professor Xiexi Li from the Southern University of Science and Technology have demonstrated that edge-exposed peeling using tape is a simple, scalable, and reliable method for producing ultrathin and transferable polycrystalline diamond films. This method can mass-produce large-area (2-inch wafers), ultrathin (sub-micron thickness), ultra-flat (sub-nanometer surface roughness), and ultra-flexible (360° bendable) diamond films. These high-quality films have flat processable surfaces that support standard microfabrication techniques, and their ultra-flexible properties allow for direct elastic strain engineering and deformation sensing applications, which cannot be achieved with bulky diamond films. Systematic experimental and theoretical studies have shown that the quality of the peeled films depends on the peeling angle and film thickness, so that essentially intact diamond films can be robustly produced within the optimal operating window.