Diamond has emerged as a leading material for solid-state spin quantum systems and extreme environment electronics. However, a major limitation is that most diamond devices and structures are fabricated using bulk diamond plates. The absence of a suitable diamond-on-insulator (DOI) substrate hinders the advanced nanofabrication of diamond quantum and electronic devices, posing a significant roadblock to large-scale, on-chip diamond quantum photonics and electronics systems. In this work, we demonstrate the direct bonding of (100) single-crystal diamond plates to PECVD-grown SiO₂/Si substrates at low temperatures and atmospheric conditions. The surfaces of the SiO₂ and diamond plates are then activated using oxygen plasma and Piranha solution, respectively. Bonding occurs when the substrates are brought into contact with water in between and annealed at 200 °C under atmospheric conditions, resulting in a DOI substrate. We systematically studied the influence of Piranha solution treatment time and diamond surface roughness on the shear strength of the bonded substrate, devising an optimal bonding process that achieves a high yield rate of 90% and a maximum shear strength of 9.6 MPa. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used for quantitative analysis of the surface chemicals at the bonding interface. It appears that the amount of -OH bindings increases with the initial roughness of the diamond, facilitating the strong bonding with SiO₂. This direct bonding method will pave the way for scalable manufacturing of diamond nanophotonic devices and enable large-scale integration of diamond quantum and electronic systems.

Surface-activated direct bonding of diamond (100) and c-plane sapphire substrates is investigated using Ar atom beam irradiation and high-pressure contact at RT. The success probability of bonding strongly depends on the surface properties, i.e, atomic smoothness for the micron-order area and global flatness for the entire substrate. Structural analysis reveals that transformation from sapphire to Al-rich amorphous layer is key to obtaining stable bonding. The beam irradiation time has optimal conditions for sufficiently strong bonding, and strong bonding with a shear strength of more than 14 MPa is successfully realized. Moreover, by evaluating the photoluminescence of nitrogen-vacancy centers in the diamond substrate, the bonding interface is confirmed to have high transparency in the visible wavelength region. These results indicate that the method used in this work is a promising fabrication platform for quantum modules using diamonds.

Quantum computer chip based on spin qubits in diamond uses modules that are entangled with on-chip optical links. This enables an increased connectivity and a negligible crosstalk and error-rate when the number of qubits increases on-chip. Here, 3D integration is the key enabling technology for a large-scale integration of the diamond spin qubits with photonic circuits and CMOS electronics for routing, control and readout of qubits. Several engineering challenges exist in order to integrate the large number of spins in diamond with the on-chip circuits operating at a cryogenic temperature. We will review trends, address challenges and discuss future outlook of the integration technology for realization of a scalable quantum computer based on diamond spin qubits.