Attempts to p-Dope Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Films in a Hot Filament Reactor

ABSTRACTUltrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films have been deposited using hot filament chemical vapour deposition using Ar/CH4/H2 gas mixtures plus additions of B2H6 in an attempt to make p-type semiconducting films. With increasing additions of B2H6 from 0 to 40,000 ppm with respect to C, the film growth rate was found to decrease substantially, whilst the individual grain sizes increased from nm to μm. With 40,000 ppm of B2H6, crystals of boric oxide were found on the substrate surface, which slowly hydrolysed to boric acid on exposure to air. These results are rationalised using a model for UNCD growth based on competition for surface radical sites between CH3 and C atoms.