The Influence of Different Surface Terminations on Electrical Transport and Emission Properties for Freestanding Single Crystalline (100) CVD Diamond Samples

Abstract

The surface density of states of hydrogen and oxygen terminated diamond is an important parameter from the point of view of electrical transport properties at the surface. In addition, the presence of surface states has a detrimental influence on the electrical contact properties. Therefore it is of great importance that the influence of different species on the surface-related properties of the diamond layer is well understood.In this work (100)-oriented CVD diamond films are terminated using a hydrogen plasma with and without small additions of oxygen (1 to 4%). XPS and UPS measurements are performed to look at the influence of this addition on the surface band gap of the diamond samples. Using the TOF (Time-of-Flight) technique a comparison is made between oxidized and (differently) hydrogenated diamond surfaces. The results clearly show that the different terminations of the diamond surface have an influence on the electrical transport properties. For the oxidized surface, it is found that defect states are created in the surface band gap, increasing trapping. Contrary to this, fully hydrogenated layers behave differently in a way that suggests that the surface DOS is significantly reduced. This fact can be confirmed when applying an electric field on the CVD diamond samples sandwiched between two metallic electrical contacts. In case of a metal deposited on a hydrogen terminated surface one can see a clear UV light emission related to free exciton recombination in the contact-diamond-junction region. When the surface is oxidized the UV emission is damped, an effect which is attributed to the parallel recombination channels via the surface states.