Charge carrier trapping in diamond crystals containing well-defined concentrations of dislocations was investigated by several complementary techniques. Samples with dislocation densities ndis between <1 × 107 and ≈1 × 109 cm−2 were grown heteroepitaxially on Ir/YSZ/Si(001). In optical pump–probe experiments, ambipolar diffusion coefficients were determined from the decay of light-induced transient free carrier gratings. Modeling their variation with excitation density yielded trapping cross sections σ of 29 and 10 nm for the dislocations and a stress-field-induced reduction in exciton binding energies from 80 to 73 and 60 meV at ndis = 1 × 108 and 1 × 109 cm−2, respectively. The lifetime measured by induced absorption scaled proportional to 1/ndis with absolute values ranging from 0.1 to 10 ns. In the electrical measurements on two sets of detector slices, electron–hole pairs were excited by α-particles and transport was measured separately for electrons and holes. Both types of carriers showed fast transient current signals. The time constant of the additional slow component exclusively seen for holes was in agreement with the activation energy of boron acceptors. Their concentration of ≈0.5 ppb yielded σ = 1.77 × 10−13 cm2 for charged point traps. Schubweg and carrier lifetime due to deep trapping roughly reproduced the 1/ndis trend. For electrons at 3 V/μm, a value σ = 40 nm was deduced. Cross sections for holes were significantly smaller. Differences in hole trapping between the samples are attributed to charging of dislocations controlled by chemical impurities. Increase in lifetime at high voltages is explained by reduced capture cross sections for hot carriers.

In this study, we present proof of concept for an x-ray detector. The hybrid device consists of a synthetic single crystal diamond in mechanical contact with a piezoelectric lithium niobate surface acoustic wave (SAW) delay line. Upon x-ray irradiation, the diamond crystal experiences a change in conductivity, which, in turn, very sensitively influences the SAW transmission on the delay line. This change in SAW attenuation is directly used to monitor the x-ray beam intensity. The SAW attenuation shows a monotonic variation with dose rate D in the studied range between 100 and 1800 lGy/s. While the response time leaves room for further improvement, the SAW detection principle offers the unique possibility for wireless remote powering and sensing.

Diamond crystals equipped with two metal electrodes can be operated as solid state ionization chambers for the detection of energetic radiation. Under irradiation with single α particles, the generated free electrons and holes are collected with a maximum efficiency close to 100%. When the same detectors are used for dosimetry in high intensity and high energy photon or particle beams, photoconductive gain G with values up to % 10 6 is frequently observed as described in the literature. In this work, we studied theoretically the irradiation induced conductivity of perfect diamond single crystals with ohmic contacts containing nitrogen and boron with concentrations N N and N B , respectively, as only chemical impurities. Based on four rate equations, two considering the charge states of N and B and two the concentrations of free carriers n and p, and, additionally, the neutrality condition, we could derive analytical solutions for the gain G as a function of impurity concentrations, crystal thickness, and excitation density. It turned out that G varies systematically with the compensation ratio R ¼ (N N À N B )=N B over five orders of magnitude. For R % 10 3 , the gain G is close to unity. With decreasing R, the gain increases /1=R until saturation is reached for R ( 1 and G % 10 4 -10 5 . Our theoretical data yield plausible explanations for the major trends that have been found experimentally in previous studies. They provide a valuable guideline for the future synthesis of diamond crystals to be used for manufacturing UV and radiation detectors.