Electronic properties of hydrogen- and oxygen-terminated diamond surfaces exposed to the air

Abstract

The electronic properties of hydrogen- and oxygen-terminated diamond surfaces exposed to the air are investigated by scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The results indicate that for the hydrogen-terminated diamond surface a shallow acceptor above the valence-band-maximum (VBM) appears in the band gap. However, the oxygen-terminated diamond film exhibits a high resistivity with a wide band gap. Based on the density-functional-theory, the densities of states, corresponding to molecular adsorbate in hydrogenated and oxygenated diamond (100) surfaces, are studied. The results show that the shallow acceptor in the band gap for the hydrogen-terminated diamond film can be attributed to the interaction between the surface C–H bonding orbitals and the adsorbate molecules, while for the oxygen-terminated diamond film, the interaction between the surface C–O bonding orbitals and the adsorbate molecules can induce occupied states in the valence-band.