Electrical Characterization of Diamond/Boron Doped Diamond Nanostructures for Use in Harsh Environment Applications

Abstract

The polycrystalline boron doped diamond (BDD) shows stable electrical properties and high tolerance for harsh environments (e.g. high temperature or aggressive chemical compounds) comparing to other materials used in semiconductor devices. In this study authors have designed electronic devices fabricated from non-intentionally (NiD) films and highly boron doped diamond structures. Presented semiconductor devices consist of highly boron doped structures grown on NiD diamond films. Fabricated structures were analyzed by electrical measurements for use in harsh environment applications. Moreover, the boron-doping level and influence of oxygen content on chemical composition of diamond films were particularly investigated. Microwave Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (MW PE CVD) has been used for thin diamond films growth. Non-intentionally doped diamond (0 ppm [B]/[C]) films have been deposited on the Si/SiO2 wafers with different content of carbon, boron and oxygen in the gas phase. Then, the shape of the highly doped diamond structures were obtained by pyrolysis of SiO2 on NiD film and standard lithography process. The highly doped structures were obtained for different growth time and [B]/[C] ratio (4000 - 10000 ppm). The narrowest distance between two highly doped structures was 5pm. The standard Ti/Au ohmic contacts were deposited using physical vapour deposition for electrical characterization of NiD/BDD devices. The influence of diffusion boron from highly doped diamond into non-doped/low-doped diamond film was investigated. Surface morphology of designed structures was analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscope and optical microscope. The resistivity of the NiD and film was studied using four-point probe measurements also DC studies were done.