A cathodoluminescence study of boron doped {111}-homoepitaxial diamond films

Slimane Ghodbane (1) , Franck Omnès (1) , Charles Agnès (1)

1 NEEL - SC2G - Semi-conducteurs à large bande interdite

In this work we use cathodoluminescence (CL) at liquid helium temperature to investigate the boron incorporation in {111}-homoepitaxial diamond films, grown outside the visible plasma ball by the Microwave plasmaassisted chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) technique. The boron concentration of this set of films covers the whole possible doping range divided into four parts: Low doping (5 x 10(16)<[B]<1.5 x 10(19)cm(-3)), high doping (1.5 x 10(19)< [B]<3 x 10(20) cm(-3)), heavy doping (3 x 10(20)<[B]<2 x 10(21) cm(-3)), and phase separation range ([B]>2 x 10(21) cm(-3)). The phase separation occurs for very high boron concentrations, between the diamond phase (sp(3) carbon) and the other components of the layer, namely sp(2) carbon and boron. A part of them is accumulated outside the diamond lattice. This detailed cathodoluminescence investigation of {111}-homoepitaxial diamond films has led to determining the doping range of the films and following the evolution of their crystalline quality when the boron concentration increases. In addition, a comparison between {111} and {100} films in the same doping ranges has been undertaken.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Slimane Ghodbane, Franck Omnès, Charles Agnès. A cathodoluminescence study of boron doped {111}-homoepitaxial diamond films. Diamond and Related Materials, 2010, 19 (4), pp.273-278. ⟨10.1016/j.diamond.2009.11.003⟩. ⟨hal-00739731⟩