Quantized electronic properties of diamond

Abstract

A review of electronic properties of insulating-, boron-and phosphorus-doped diamond is given. The main goal is, to show data in a wider context, to reveal trends and limitations with respect to carrier mobilities, conductivities, p-and n-type doping. Undoped diamond is an insulator with conductivities significantly smaller than 10 -17 Ωcm at room temperature.Mostly, these insulating films show conductivity activation energies of 1.7 eV, an indication that small amounts of substitutional nitrogen dominates the Fermi-level. The electron and hole mobilities are very high (> 20.000 cm 2 /Vs at T = 80 K) and are limited by acoustic phonon scattering. By phosphorus and boron doping diamond becomes semiconducting with an ntype donor activation energy (phosphorus) of 600 meV and an acceptor activation energy (boron) of 370 meV. Both dopands are hydrogen-like in nature. Due to the deep donor levels conductivity at room temperature is limited, electronic application will therefore be hightemperature devices. Both, electrons and holes show nearly the same mobilities which is promising for bi-polar applications, however, due to the very different doping levels low temperature devices will be governed by holes with increasing contribution of electrons towards higher temperatures. The effect of temperature on the carrier activation from donors and acceptors, on carrier scattering as well as on transport via hopping is shown in combination with some basic physical models and descriptions. The results confirm the superior electronic properties of diamond which makes it very promising for future electronic applications.

Electrostatic Grafting of Diamond Nanoparticles: A Versatile Route to Nanocrystalline Diamond Thin Films

“…For scientific and technological applications, its high chemical and mechanical resilience, high surface stability, high thermal conductivity, and wide bandgap make diamond a promising candidate in the fields of electrochemistry, heat spreaders, biological platform, sensor devices, protective coatings, and so forth , . Several of these applications require very thin diamond layers (<100 nm) with a low surface roughness, for bioinert layers in biocell interfacing , for example, as well as for high-reactivity electrochemical applications or electronics , thus increasing interest in an improved control of diamond nanocrystalline film growth.…”

Resonant field emission from two-dimensional density of state on hydrogen-terminated intrinsic diamond

“…Assuming that the energy difference between the vacuum level and the surface Fermi level ͑FL sur ͒ dominates field emission from the SCL on H-terminated intrinsic diamond, the effective emission barrier height of region ͑iii͒ is 5.3 eV. 11 From these data, we conclude that the 2D levels act as electron source for emission. 3 eV, the Fermi level would then be 0.8-1.2 eV below the valence band, maximum at the surface of diamond.…”

“…Although the transfer-doping model seems to be the most appropriate mechanism for the generation of this effect, the electronic properties of the surface conductive layer ͑SCL͒ have hardly been discussed up to now. 11 Defined electrolyte solution, as well as adsorbate layers formed from the atmosphere, were used to establish transfer doping and to generate surface conductivity on diamond surfaces. Numerical solutions of the Poisson and Schrödinger equations 10 showed that a two-dimensional ͑2D͒ electronic structure was formed at the surface of diamond.…”

Poly(Hydridocarbyne) as Highly Processable Insulating Polymer Precursor to Micro/Nanostructures and Graphite Conductors

“…Much interest was generated by the synthesis of this easily processable polymer and the report of its conversion to diamond and DLC by means of pyrolysis [1]. Diamond has been reported to have interesting electrical properties [2,3] and applications in MEMS [4] and biology [5]. And ta-C:H has also been shown to be relevant to the electrical and biological communities in the form of protectivecoatings in magnetic disk memories [6] and a haemocompatible material [7], respectively.…”

“…Poly(hydridocarbyne) (PHC) is an sp 3 hybridized random network carbon polymer, comprised of amonomeric unit containing one carbon-hydrogen and three carbon-carbon single bonds not unlike hydrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:H). Much interest was generated by the synthesis of this easily processable polymer and the report of its conversion to diamond and DLC by means of pyrolysis [1].…”