Hello everybody.
I'm trying to study HPHT synthetic diamond plates with low (first nm roughness). When i taking 100×100 μm photo by AFM, you can see a lot of flakes/dirt on them.
The question is how can i remove this dirt? I already tryed ultrasonic cleaning in ethanol, but it doesn't remove dirt at all.
Try the following procedure. It should remove possible non-diamond phases, metallic residuals, organic contaminants, and particulate from all the diamond surfaces:
(1) acid cleaning in a H2SO4:HClO4:HNO3 (1:1:1) mixture for 30 min at boiling point;
(2) acid cleaning in a HCl:HNO3 (3:1) for 5 min at boiling point;
(3) ultrasonic bath in hot acetone for 5 min;
(4) rinsing in deionized water;
(5) drying in pure nitrogen flow.
Treat the surfaces with plasma etch to remove any organic material. We use the Tantec devices to do this.
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