Eur. Phys. J. B (2013) 86: 443
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-40528-x

Regular Article

Conductivity of boron-doped polycrystalline diamond films: influence of specific boron defects

¹ Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences Czech Republic v.v.i, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague 8, Czech Republic
² Faculty of Nuclear Physics and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Zikova 1, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
³ Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Sítná sq. 3105, 272 01 Kladno, Czech Republic
⁴ Institute for Materials Research (IMO), Hasselt University, Wetenschapspark 1, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
⁵ J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, AS CR, v.v.i., Dolejškova 3, 182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic
⁶ Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry AS CR, v.v.i., Flemingovo námìstí 2, 166 10 Prague, Czech Republic
⁷ Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences Czech Republic v.v.i, Cukrovarnická 10, 162 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
⁸ Nuclear Physics Institute Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic v.v.i, 250 68 Rez near Prague, Czech Republic

^a e-mail: krat@fzu.cz

Received: 28 May 2013
Received in final form: 24 August 2013
Published online: 28 October 2013

Abstract

The resistivity of boron doped polycrystalline diamond films changes with boron content in a very complex way with many unclear factors. From the large number of parameters affecting boron doped polycrystalline diamond film’s conductivity we focused on the role of boron atoms inside diamond grains in terms of boron contribution to the continuum of diamond electronic states. Using a combination of theoretical and experimental techniques (plane-wave Density Functional Theory, Neutron Depth Profiling, resistivity and Hall effect measurements, Atomic Force Microscopy and Raman spectroscopy) we studied a wide range of B defect parameters – the boron concentration, location, structure, free hole concentration and mobility. The main goal and novelty of our work was to find the influence of B defects (structure, interactions, charge localisation and spins) in highly B-doped diamonds – close or above the metal-insulator transition – on the complex material charge transport mechanisms.