Diamond electronic properties

L. S. Pan and D. R. Kania, Diamond—Electronic Properties and Applications. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994. 

Plano, L.S., Growth of CVD diamond for electronic applications, in Diamond Electronic Properties and Applications, Pan, L.S., Kania, D.R., eds., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Dordrecht, London, 62, 1995. 

W Zhu. Defects in diamond. In LS Pan, DR Kania, eds. Diamond Electronic Properties and Applications. Boston Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995, pp 175-239. 

Diamond Electronic Properties and Application, ed. S.L. Pan, D. R. Kania, Kluwer Academic Publisher, 1995. 

Diamond and Refractory Ceramic Semiconductors. Ceramic thin films of diamond, sihcon carbide, and other refractory semiconductors (qv), eg, cubic BN and BP and GaN and GaAlN, are of interest because of the special combination of thermal, mechanical, and electronic properties (see Refractories). The majority of the research effort has focused on SiC and diamond, because these materials have much greater figures of merit for transistor power and frequency performance than Si, GaAs, and InP (13). Compared to typical semiconductors such as Si and GaAs, these materials also offer the possibiUty of device operation at considerably higher temperatures. For example, operation of a siUcon carbide MOSFET at temperatures above 900 K has been demonstrated. These devices have not yet been commercialized, however. 

Notes on some peculiar applications of diamond. Diamond has a very interesting and important range of material properties. It is the hardest and stiffest material known, it has a very high thermal conductivity and it is a very good electrical insulator. It is transparent to ultraviolet, visible and infrared light, and it is chemically inert to nearly all acids and bases. Large crystals may therefore find applications not only in jewellery tiny diamonds are used in saw blades, in drill bits, etc. Electronic properties and colour of diamond depend on the impurities and their distribution within the crystal. 

The luminescence of diamonds is related to various defects in its structure. Almost always, luminescence centers in diamonds are related to N atoms. It is logical, because the atomic radii of C and N are nearly equal (approximately 0.77 A). Luminescence spectroscopy has proven to be the most widely used method in studies of diamonds even in comparison with optical absorption, ESR, IR and Raman spectroscopies. Himdreds of spectra have been obtained, fluorescence characteristics enter into diamond quality gemological certificates, a wide range of electronic and laser applications are based on diamond optical properties in excited states nitrogen center aggregation is controlled by the residence time of diamond in the mantle, distinction between natural... 

We shall now discuss the method of crystal growth and the electronic properties of GaAs, a typical example of a III-V compound which is expected to become more useful than Si and Ge in the near future, concentrating on the relation between non-stoichiometry and physical properties. GaAs has a zinc blende type structure, which can be regarded as an interpenetration of two structures with face centred cubic lattices, as shown in Fig. 3.29. Disregarding the atomic species, the structure is the same as a diamond-type... 

Silicon crystallizes in the diamond structure,16 which consists of two interpenetrating face-centered cubic lattices displaced from each other by one quarter of the body diagonal. In zinc blende semiconductors such as GaAs, the Ga and As atoms lie on separate sublattices, and thus the inversion symmetry of Si is lost in III-V binary compounds. This difference in their crystal structures underlies the disparate electronic properties of Si and GaAs. The energy band structure in... 

Owing to its extraordinary chemical stability, diamond is a prospective electrode material for use in theoretical and applied electrochemistry. In this work studies performed during the last decade on boron-doped diamond electrochemistry are reviewed. Depending on the doping level, diamond exhibits properties either of a superwide-gap semiconductor or a semimetal. In the first case, electrochemical, photoelectrochemical and impedance-spectroscopy studies make the determination of properties of the semiconductor diamond possible. Among them are the resistivity, the acceptor concentration, the minority carrier diffusion length, the flat-band potential, electron phototransition energies, etc. In the second case, the metal-like diamond appears to be a corrosion-stable electrode that is efficient in the electrosyntheses (e.g., in the electroreduction of hard to reduce compounds) and electroanalysis. Kinetic characteristics of many outer-sphere... 

Jacques Chevallier, Hydrogen Diffusion and Acceptor Passivation in Diamond Jurgen Ristein, Structural and Electronic Properties of Diamond Surfaces John C. Angus, Yuri V. Pleskov and Sally C. Eaton, Electrochemistry of Diamond Greg M. Swain, Electroanalytical Applications of Diamond Electrodes... 

Fullerenes - Carbon Soccer Balls As described above, fullerenes are closed structures constructed from pentagonal and hexagonal carbon units. The fullerene consisting of sixty carbon atoms has a structure similar to a soccer ball. Fullerenes possess very different properties to diamond and graphite some of their electronic properties are somewhat similar to those of a semiconductor. 

Fullerenes show quite different electronic properties to other carbon al-lotropes. The carbon in diamond has a nonconductive sp hybrid orbital, while that in graphite is conductive since it has an sp hybrid orbital. Fullerene carbons have orbitals that are intermediate between sp and sp, and so the fullerenes behave hke semiconductors. Graphite can be oxidized and reduced. In contrast, fullerenes are easily reduced but difficult to oxidize. Fullerenes can also be doped with metal ions (Fig. 3.2). In doped fullerenes, the metal ion is... 

The hydrogen-terminated diamond surface also exhibits a p-type conduction. The surface structure, electronic properties, etc. have been extensively studied. This subject has a long history of research, and the readers can refer to Ref. [137] on this topic. Simply summarizing the results obtained so far, the thickness of the Surface conducting layer is 30-100 A, and the hole density at room temperature is approximately 10 /cm. ... 

Diamond s properties make it the desirable material in thermal, optical, electrical, electronics, and mechanical applications. It has not been exploited to its maximum potential. Future trends are toward applications in medicine, biology, and the nuclear field. These fields already have applications that use diamond but continuous improvements are being made through research. Diamond is a strong candidate as a substitute for materials currently being used in a variety of applications. Although implementation may be deterred by cost factors or technical issues, the development of new deposition techniques may overcome this limitation. Deposition techniques and a higher control of processes surely will help to launch more sophisticated electronic applications that eventually will realize diamond s superior performance over other materials. 

An evoked possibility of n-type doping of diamond with sulphur [219] has aroused an interest for the electronic properties of this element in diamond. It is now well established that, as expected from the properties of chalcogens in silicon and germanium, S behaves in diamond as a deep donor, with an ionization energy of 1 eV for S°, predicted from the ab initio DFT calculations [177]. However, the existence of S-related complexes with native defects or impurities like B is a possibility which could explain some appealing experimental results ([37], and references therein). 

The distinct mechanical characteristics of diamond are based on its lattice stmc-ture and electronic properties. It stands out for the highest hardness ever measured for a natural material, for large moduli of bulk and shearing and for a high scratch-resistance. Dislocations are little mobile in its lattice, and the material features a very high surface energy contributing to the hardness as well. 

Contrary to single crystalline diamond films, the polycrystaUine layers contain a much larger portion of sp -hybridized carbon. This can be attributed to the large number of grain boundaries and has considerable influence on the electronic properties of these films (Section 6.4.2). 

A strong incentive for the fast development of technologies for the production of high quality diamond films arose from their prognosticated outstanding electronic properties. Diamond is considered by many to be the material of the future for... 

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