REVIEW article
Front. Quantum Sci. Technol.
Sec. Quantum Engineering
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvanced Material Design and Post-Treatment Techniques for Enhancing Color Centers in Quantum TechnologiesView all 5 articles
Diamond processing for quantum defects
Provisionally accepted
Ian N. Hammock1
Tanvi Deshmukh2Midrel Wilfried Ngandeu Ngambou3Jonathan C. Marcks3Jessica C. Jones3Alex B. F. Martinson3Alexander A. High1F. Joseph Heremans3
Nazar Delegan4*- 1The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, Chicago, United States
- 2Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
- 3Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, United States
- 4Argonne National Laboratory (DOE), Lemont, United States
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Advances in material processing are rapidly improving the quality and scal-ability of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) and group-IV vacancy (G4V) color centers in diamond—key building blocks for quantum sensing and photonic networks. Central chal-lenges remain: precise control of defect-formation pathways and the mitigation of nearby charge traps and parasitic states, which is especially problematic for near-surface emit-ters. Recent progress in sample preparation and in-situ thermal treatments (before, during and after growth, and during implantation) have reduced nonradiative dark defects and suppressed interface doping. Optimizing thermal strategies have illustrated an in-creased conversion yield for NV and G4V centers, while limiting unwanted photoluminescence. Similarly, surface treatments play an imperative role in stabilizing near-surface charge states for sensing applications. Complementary ex-situ protocols, such as high-temperature vacuum anneals, and hybrid incorporation methods that combine shallow implantation with epitaxial overgrowth continue to improve yields and coherence for shallow NV and G4V centers. Together, these integrated strategies are enabling deterministic, high-fidelity quantum emitters embedded in scalable diamond nanostructures.
Keywords: annealing, cvd, Diamond, processing, Spin defects, Synthesis
Received: 12 Nov 2025; Accepted: 13 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Hammock, Deshmukh, Ngandeu Ngambou, Marcks, Jones, Martinson, High, Heremans and Delegan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nazar Delegan
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