Comparison of electronic transport in boron-doped homoepitaxial, polycrystalline, and natural single-crystal diamond

Abstract

Hall-effect and resistivity measurements were performed on simultaneously deposited B-doped homoepitaxial and polycrystalline diamond films, as well as a (100)-oriented type-IIb natural diamond crystal, over a temperature range of 140–600 K. At 298 K, the respective Hall mobilities for the homoepitaxial and polycrystalline films were 519 and 33 cm2/V s, while the active carrier concentrations were both approximately 2×1014 cm−3. For the natural diamond, a Hall mobility of 564 cm2/V s and a carrier concentration of 2×1013 cm−3 were measured at room temperature. A comparison of the transport behavior of the three specimens indicates that the electronic properties of diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition are potentially of equal or greater quality than natural diamond and that the transport properties of polycrystalline films are severely degraded by the effects of grain boundaries.