Fig. 1

Colour centre implantation within three doped regions. a Scheme of the diamond sample (quantum grade from Element 6) prepared with intrinsic, p-type and n-type areas (using boron and phosphorous implantation with [P] and [B]  ̴  3 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³, see supplementary information) and implanted with a series of different chemical elements: carbon (as reference) and nitrogen, tin, and magnesium to produce, NV, SnV and MgV centres. The depth of the centres (~ 50 nm) is controlled by the implantation energy and fits with the dopant depth profiles (see supplementary information). b Illustration of the sample status after implantation in the Phosphorous-doped region, as represented by a 60 × 60 nm² cross-section. The implantation-induced vacancies are simulated by SRIM. The density is given in number of vacancies per pixel of size 0.6 × 0.6 nm². The phosphorous atoms are represented by the red P letters, with inter-distance corresponding to [P] ≈ 3 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³. The red halos represent substitutional P active donors which are non-passivated and non-self-compensated. Hydrogen atoms are also represented at a density of 1 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³, with arrows accounting for their large diffusion (~ 6 × 10⁷ nm² s⁻¹ at 800 °C in IIa diamond³⁴). Less than 2.5 nitrogen and 0.5 boron atoms are expected within this section for native concentration [N] < 5 ppb and [B] < 1 ppb. NVH, V₂, V_x, VH, and PV are the main competing defects to NV formation, whereas PH may passivate the donors. NVN forms at much higher temperatures and/or [N] densities owing to the low diffusion of nitrogen (~ 1.7 × 10⁻³ nm².s⁻¹ at 1600 °C in ref. ⁹). c Time sequence of the different steps of the study. The magnifiers symbolise imaging and spectroscopy