Boron–oxygen complex yields n-type surface layer in semiconducting diamond
| Autor: | Richard A. Stern, Steven D. Jacobsen, Sylvain Petitgirard, Craig R. Bina, David J. Singh, Xin Chen, Xiaobing Liu, Jinsong Wu |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Materials science
Analytical chemistry chemistry.chemical_element 02 engineering and technology engineering.material 010402 general chemistry 01 natural sciences law.invention diamond law Surface layer Crystallization Boron defects Shallow donor Multidisciplinary Dopant business.industry Diamond semiconductor 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology 0104 chemical sciences Applied Physical Sciences high pressure Semiconductor PNAS Plus chemistry Physical Sciences engineering boron 0210 nano-technology business Single crystal |
| Zdroj: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| ISSN: | 1091-6490 0027-8424 |
| Popis: | Significance Diamond is a uniquely attractive wide-bandgap semiconductor for future electronic devices where its remarkable physical properties may enable switches, transistors, and diodes for extreme applications. Whereas p-type semiconducting diamond is well developed with boron doping, the synthesis of n-type diamond, required to complete purely diamond-based electronics, has been a great challenge in materials science. We report the creation of n-type diamond via a new type of defect complexes of boron and oxygen that can be tuned by controlling the experimental parameters for diamond crystallization, leading to a shallow donor state with high carrier concentration that is several orders of magnitude higher than achieved by sulfur or phosphorus doping. The results provide a new strategy for producing n-type diamond-based devices. Diamond is a wide-bandgap semiconductor possessing exceptional physical and chemical properties with the potential to miniaturize high-power electronics. Whereas boron-doped diamond (BDD) is a well-known p-type semiconductor, fabrication of practical diamond-based electronic devices awaits development of an effective n-type dopant with satisfactory electrical properties. Here we report the synthesis of n-type diamond, containing boron (B) and oxygen (O) complex defects. We obtain high carrier concentration (∼0.778 × 1021 cm−3) several orders of magnitude greater than previously obtained with sulfur or phosphorous, accompanied by high electrical conductivity. In high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) boron-doped diamond single crystal we formed a boron-rich layer ∼1–1.5 μm thick in the {111} surface containing up to 1.4 atomic % B. We show that under certain HPHT conditions the boron dopants combine with oxygen defects to form B–O complexes that can be tuned by controlling the experimental parameters for diamond crystallization, thus giving rise to n-type conduction. First-principles calculations indicate that B3O and B4O complexes with low formation energies exhibit shallow donor levels, elucidating the mechanism of the n-type semiconducting behavior. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|