Die to wafer direct bonding of (100) single-crystal diamond thin films for quantum optoelectronics

Quantum Physics [Submitted on 17 Mar 2026] Die to wafer direct bonding of (100) single-crystal diamond thin films for quantum optoelectronics Dominic Lepage, Amin Yaghoobi, Heidi Tremblay, Dominique Drouin This work unlocks the manufacturing of nanophotonic quantum systems that exploit the unique material properties of single-crystal diamond (SCD). We achieve this by introducing a semiconductor-compatible process for the direct bonding of multiple high-quality, ultrathin diamond films onto a carrier wafer, enabling the subsequent parallel nanofabrication of optoelectronic integrated circuits. Central to this approach is a new diamond surface-preparation method that avoids boiling tri-acid mixtures while producing exceptionally clean 20 um thin single crystals. These platelets are bonded side-by-side to 100 mm silica wafers and exhibit a record shear strength of 45.1 MPa for (100)-oriented diamond, surpassing all previously reported bonding attempts. Evidence indicates that the bonding is dominated by van der Waals interactions, likely arising from mismatched protonation mechanisms between Si-OH and C-OH surface terminations, rather than from covalent-bond-driven mechanisms. Despite this non-molecular nature, the heterostructures remain stable through liquid immersions and standard nanofabrication steps. Because the method depends primarily on surface cleanliness and roughness rather than specific chemistries, it is broadly transferable across wafer materials. This capability to parallel-bond ultrathin SCD films onto large-area substrates provides a scalable route to high-performance platforms spanning nanophotonic quantum technologies, high-power electronics, MEMS, and biotechnology. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci); Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2603.17140 [quant-ph]   (or arXiv:2603.17140v1 [quant-ph] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.17140 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Dominic Lepage [view email] [v1] Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:12:02 UTC (770 KB) Access Paper: view license Current browse context: quant-ph < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-03 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.mtrl-sci physics physics.app-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)