EAGER: Quantum Manufacturing: Manufacturing Integrated Quantum Sensing and Quantum Photonic Technologies Through Direct Bonding of Diamond Membranes

EARLY概念探索性研究（EAGER）量子制造奖支持基于金刚石的异质量子材料平台的开发。钻石是与量子信息技术相关的独特材料。不幸的是，由于无法在其他材料上直接生长高质量的金刚石，基于金刚石的集成量子技术的发展仍然具有挑战性。这项研究通过将结晶金刚石膜直接结合到功能材料平台上来创建新的金刚石设备平台。结合过程将被优化，以保护材料的表面，并防止钻石内微妙的量子态的退化。这项研究将有利于美国在这些领域的领导地位，并进一步扩大美国在量子技术方面的科学能力。这项研究将通过极大地提高基于钻石的量子技术的可扩展性，包括量子传感和量子通信，产生广泛而重大的影响。该项目还将重点通过学生主导的研究来培养下一代量子科学家，同时涉及表面，材料，量子和生长科学的多学科贡献。这种多学科方法将有助于扩大代表性不足的群体在研究中的参与，同时对高水平的材料科学研究和教育产生积极影响。采用金刚石的异质量子材料平台将通过利用晶片键合技术制造。该研究将侧重于确定可控地将金刚石膜与其他功能材料结合所需的表面化学和加工条件，同时保持膜内量子态的特性。该工艺将主要探索低温表面活化粘合。在这种方法中，金刚石和衬底界面暴露于优化的大气等离子体，使表面原子级清洁和亲水。当两个活化的表面结合在一起时，可以形成强共价键，并且可以通过退火进一步加强。界面应该是无缺陷的，并保持量子应用的金刚石质量。该项目将开发自动化加工和粘合工作流程的方法，并具有开发量子材料装配线的更广泛愿景。开发的键合方法将用于将金刚石键合到（1）锂离子酸盐光子电路，以实现电可重构的量子光子学，以及（2）玻璃衬底，以生成集成量子传感平台。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) Quantum Manufacturing award supports development of diamond-based heterogeneous quantum materials platforms. Diamond is a unique material relevant to quantum information technologies. Unfortunately, the development of diamond -based integrated quantum technologies remains challenging due the inability to directly grow high-quality diamond on other materials. This research creates new diamond device platforms by the direct bonding of crystalline diamond membranes to functional material platforms. The bonding process will be optimized to preserve the surfaces of the materials and prevent degradation of the delicate quantum states within the diamond. This research will benefit the ongoing US leadership in these fields and further expand national science capabilities in the quantum technologies. The research will have broad and significant impact by vastly improving the scalability of diamond-based quantum technologies, including quantum sensing and quantum communication. This project will also focus on training the next generation of quantum scientists through student-led research while involving multidisciplinary contributions from surface, materials, quantum, and growth sciences. This multi-disciplinary approach will help broaden participation for underrepresented groups in research while positively impacting high level materials science research and education. Heterogeneous quantum material platforms that incorporate diamond will be manufactured by leveraging wafer bonding techniques. The research will focus on determining the surface chemistry and processing conditions necessary to controllably bond diamond membranes to other functional materials while preserving the properties of quantum states within the membranes. The processing will primarily explore low-temperature surface-activated bonding. In this method, the diamond and substrate interfaces are exposed to an optimized atmospheric plasma which leaves the surfaces atomically clean and hydrophilic. Strong covalent bonds can form when the two activated surfaces are brought together and can be further strengthened with annealing. The interface should be defect-free and maintain the quality of the diamond for quantum applications. This project will develop methods to automate the processing and bonding workflow, with a broader vision of developing a quantum materials assembly line. The developed bonding methods will be utilized to bond diamond to (1) to lithium niobate photonic circuits to realize electrically reconfigurable quantum photonics and (2) to glass substrates to generate integrated quantum sensing platforms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.