Effect of grain boundary on local surface conductivity of diamond film
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080 (China)
In this article, the direct experimental evidences to determine the effect of grain boundary on local surface conductivity (SC) of diamond films were provided by the measurement using double probe scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technology. Undoped diamond films with (001) orientation were first grown by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and were then hydrogenated at different conditions for SC measurement. In the SEM system, double probes with tiny tip radius severed as two leads were moved along and contacted with the diamond film surface to directly test the local SC of diamond film. The surface electrical property results indicate that for the same distance between the two probes, the local SC of the area across grain boundary is much higher than that of area without grain boundary for the same duration of hydrogenation degrees. In addition, local SC of the area between the two probes increases with the number of grain boundaries in this area, which demonstrates that the grain boundaries play an important role in improving the SC of diamond film. The contribution of the grain boundaries on the local SC of diamond film can be mainly attributed to the defects in grain boundaries that can effectively improve electron transport ability at the diamond film surface.
- OSTI ID:
- 21185958
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 105, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3056381; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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