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Title: Thermal diffusion boron doping of single-crystal natural diamond

Abstract

With the best overall electronic and thermal properties, single crystal diamond (SCD) is the extreme wide bandgap material that is expected to revolutionize power electronics and radio-frequency electronics in the future. However, turning SCD into useful semiconductors requires overcoming doping challenges, as conventional substitutional doping techniques, such as thermal diffusion and ion implantation, are not easily applicable to SCD. Here we report a simple and easily accessible doping strategy demonstrating that electrically activated, substitutional doping in SCD without inducing graphitization transition or lattice damage can be readily realized with thermal diffusion at relatively low temperatures by using heavily doped Si nanomembranes as a unique dopant carrying medium. Atomistic simulations elucidate a vacancy exchange boron doping mechanism that occurs at the bonded interface between Si and diamond. We further demonstrate selectively doped high voltage diodes and half-wave rectifier circuits using such doped SCD. Our new doping strategy has established a reachable path toward using SCDs for future high voltage power conversion systems and for other novel diamond based electronic devices. The novel doping mechanism may find its critical use in other wide bandgap semiconductors.

Authors:
; ; ; ;  [1]; ;  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)
  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)
  3. Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)
  4. Department of Electrical Engineering, NanoFAB Center, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019 (United States)
  5. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22596735
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 119; Journal Issue: 20; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; BORON; DIAMONDS; DOPED MATERIALS; ELECTRIC POTENTIAL; ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT; GRAPHITIZATION; ION IMPLANTATION; MONOCRYSTALS; RADIOWAVE RADIATION; RECTIFIERS; SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS; SILICON; SIMULATION; TEMPERATURE RANGE 0065-0273 K; THERMAL DIFFUSION; THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES; VACANCIES

Citation Formats

Seo, Jung-Hun, Mikael, Solomon, Mi, Hongyi, Venkataramanan, Giri, Ma, Zhenqiang, Wu, Henry, Morgan, Dane, Blanchard, James P., Zhou, Weidong, and Gong, Shaoqin. Thermal diffusion boron doping of single-crystal natural diamond. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4949327.
Seo, Jung-Hun, Mikael, Solomon, Mi, Hongyi, Venkataramanan, Giri, Ma, Zhenqiang, Wu, Henry, Morgan, Dane, Blanchard, James P., Zhou, Weidong, & Gong, Shaoqin. Thermal diffusion boron doping of single-crystal natural diamond. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4949327
Seo, Jung-Hun, Mikael, Solomon, Mi, Hongyi, Venkataramanan, Giri, Ma, Zhenqiang, Wu, Henry, Morgan, Dane, Blanchard, James P., Zhou, Weidong, and Gong, Shaoqin. 2016. "Thermal diffusion boron doping of single-crystal natural diamond". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4949327.
@article{osti_22596735,
title = {Thermal diffusion boron doping of single-crystal natural diamond},
author = {Seo, Jung-Hun and Mikael, Solomon and Mi, Hongyi and Venkataramanan, Giri and Ma, Zhenqiang and Wu, Henry and Morgan, Dane and Blanchard, James P. and Zhou, Weidong and Gong, Shaoqin},
abstractNote = {With the best overall electronic and thermal properties, single crystal diamond (SCD) is the extreme wide bandgap material that is expected to revolutionize power electronics and radio-frequency electronics in the future. However, turning SCD into useful semiconductors requires overcoming doping challenges, as conventional substitutional doping techniques, such as thermal diffusion and ion implantation, are not easily applicable to SCD. Here we report a simple and easily accessible doping strategy demonstrating that electrically activated, substitutional doping in SCD without inducing graphitization transition or lattice damage can be readily realized with thermal diffusion at relatively low temperatures by using heavily doped Si nanomembranes as a unique dopant carrying medium. Atomistic simulations elucidate a vacancy exchange boron doping mechanism that occurs at the bonded interface between Si and diamond. We further demonstrate selectively doped high voltage diodes and half-wave rectifier circuits using such doped SCD. Our new doping strategy has established a reachable path toward using SCDs for future high voltage power conversion systems and for other novel diamond based electronic devices. The novel doping mechanism may find its critical use in other wide bandgap semiconductors.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4949327},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22596735}, journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
issn = {0021-8979},
number = 20,
volume = 119,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat May 28 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Sat May 28 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}