Morphology and electronic structure in nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond

Abstract

Ultrananocrystalline diamond film deposition by direct-current plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition using hydrogen-rich precursor gas in the absence of the positive column

Boron-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond synthesized with an H-rich/Ar-lean gas system

“…It is hypothesized that such an increase may arise from a slightly increased grain size, similar to that reported from the deposition of nitrogen doped UNCD, when the nitrogen concentration is increased. [24] However, no obvious facets of crystallites could be seen under SEM even with a magnification of 100,000 ×. At boron concentrations above 9000 ppm, the size increase of the line-granular structure does not increase significantly with increasing boron concentration.…”

“…While nitrogen-doped UNCD has been studied previously, [23][24] boron-doped UNCD (BD-UNCD) has not been systematically described and characterized in the literature. SwainÕs group reported the smoothest boron-doped diamond yet reported by adding a boron source (solid state BoronPlus and gas state B 2 H 6 ) to conventional Ar-rich UNCD gas system.…”

Are Diamonds a MEMS' Best Friend?

“…The dimers together with other hydrocarbon radicals contribute to the growth process. The C 2 dimers insertion into the diamond-seeded surface of the substrate and subsequently into the growing film involves a low energy activation process (∼6 Kcal/mol) for the carbon atoms to establish the bonding characteristic of the UNCD films [14]. A unique outcome of the UNCD nucleation and growth processes is that these films are the only diamond films that can be grown at temperatures as low as 350-400 • C [15], paving the way for possible integration into the CMOS BEOL for the development of monolithically integrated UNCD-MEMS/NEMS/CMOS devices.…”

The potential application of ultra-nanocrystalline diamond films for heavy ion irradiation detection

“…the grains of UNCD films have an sp 3 character, the grain-boundaries have a mixture of sp 2 , sp 3 , hydrocarbon and amorphous carbon, in which the sp 2 character is predominant. 13,14 This material shows better potential for application as a radiation detector, as the conductivity of the pristine UNCD films can be reliably controlled by carefully adjusting the granular structure of diamond films. Many reports have discussed the effects of ion beam irradiation on the characteristics of diamond and related materials, such as type IIa diamond, 15 diamond-like carbon films, 16 taC, 17 graphite 18 and polycrystalline CVD diamond films.…”