Free-exciton recombination emission of 235 nm in wavelength is obtained by current injection at room temperature from a diamond-based pn junction diode composed of B-doped crystal grown by high-temperature, high-pressure synthesis and a S-doped homoepitaxial layer grown by the chemical vapor deposition method. The diode shows a clear rectification characteristic and a high external quantum efficiency of excitonic emission, 8×10-5, which indicates that the excitonic emission of diamond is a good candidate for application to semiconductor UV-light-emitting devices. A defect-induced light emission and large leakage current indicate that a higher UV emission efficiency is expected with improvement of the junction quality.

Dominant n-type conductivity in sulfur-doped chemical-vapor-deposited diamond is observed by Hall-effect measurement. The activation energy is estimated at 0.5–0.75 eV above 600 K. Below 600 K, the carrier concentration deviates from the activation energy, and Hall mobility decreases in comparison with that above 600 K. It is considered that hopping conduction takes place. By cathodoluminescence measurement, free-exciton recombination radiation is observed in spite of a very high sulfur doping level of 2.5% during deposition, where boron is not detected by secondary ion mass spectroscopy. Therefore, the n-type conductivity of sulfur-doped diamond is caused by a sulfur-related mechanism.