Andrew Taylor
Diamond is a rare and important material for industry, with extreme properties without any other known equivalent. Yet, it took mankind a long time to be able to produce diamond artificially, indeed we knew how to fly at very high speed before being able to produce diamonds. Today, the combination of diamond’s outstanding properties and well-controlled synthesis, by chemical vapour deposition techniques, allows the development of new high-tech applications.
The Materials for Nanosystems and Biointerfaces research group is dedicated to the study and the understanding of 1- the synthesis of the diamond by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (MWPECVD) techniques, 2- the properties of diamond and 3- the development of new diamond applications. The research group is specialized in the synthesis of doped diamond layers for their potential electrochemical, optical, electronic and quantum applications. The synthesis of the nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) and monocrystalline diamond (SCD) layers with different dopants are studied using commercial and lab-made MWPECVD reactors available at within the MNB group at FZU - Institute of Physics CAS. Diamond layer properties and development of diamond-based applications are studied within the MNB group using the facilities at FZU and in cooperation with other national and international institutes. The group has significantly contributed to the development of fluorescent diamond nanoparticles for biomedical applications. It is also especially involved in the development of boron-doped and undoped nanocrystalline diamond layers over a large area using microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition with linear antennas for electrochemical and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) applications, and boron-doped epitaxial diamond layers for high power electronic applications. The group has recently been active in the development of novel in-liquid plasma synthesis of diamond, and the development of phosphorus-doped diamond layers to develop and to study the properties of bipolar and unipolar electronic devices.
