Reactive ion beam machining of diamond chips with oxygen ions using a
Kaufman-type apparatus has been investigated. This paper reports machi
ning characteristics of single crystal diamond chips processed with an
oxygen ion beam using an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR)-type appa
ratus. The specific machining rate increases with increase in ion ener
gy, reaches a maximum rate at an ion energy of 300 eV, then decreases
gradually with further increase in ion energy. The specific machining
rate obtained with 1000 eV oxygen ions increases with increase in ion
incident angle and reaches a maximum rate at an ion incident angle of
40 degrees, then decreases with increase in ion incident angle. The sp
ecific machining rate obtained with 500 eV oxygen ions decreases with
increase in ion incident angle. The specific machining rate for 500 eV
oxygen ions at an ion incident angle of 0 degrees is 12 times greater
than that for argon ions. Furthermore, the surface roughness of diamo
nd chips before and after oxygen ion beam machining was evaluated usin
g an atomic force microscope (AFM) and a scanning electron microscope
(SEM). It was found that the surface roughness increases with increase
in ion incident angle, and decreases with increase in ion energy.