Fabrication of microstructures on single-crystal diamond by press imprinting utilizing pure iron molds

Single-crystal diamond is increasingly used in the fields of cutting tools, semiconductors, micro electromechanical systems and optical devices. It is important to fabricate high-precision microstructures on diamond surfaces at a low cost. In this study, a novel cost-effective technique is proposed for fabricating microstructures on single-crystal diamond by thermochemical reaction-based press imprinting method. Pure iron was used as a mold material and its characteristics in the imprinting process were investigated under various pressure, temperature and processing time. The processed diamond surface was examined by scanning electron microscopy, laser probe surface metrology and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Results showed that at the same temperature a pure iron mold produced a processing depth four times higher than that of a nickel mold. The thermochemical imprinting mechanisms for pure iron molds were discussed based on the cross-sectional observation results of the mold/diamond interfaces.