The application of thermoluminescence theory to natural semiconducting diamond

Abstract

The main thermoluminescence glow peak at ~ 250°K in natural semiconducting diamond has been analysed by methods proposed by several authors, using the model of the thermoluminescence process developed in the preceding paper as a guide. Kinetic equations appropriate to two conditions of recombination are developed and discussed in the light of the recombination processes in natural semiconducting diamond. A summary of several methods of analysis is given. The various methods are then applied in turn to the 250°K glow peak. The method of initial rise is shown to be appropriate to the model of trapping and recombination given in the preceding paper, and gives a value 0.35 ± 0.02 eV for the trap depth. Halperin and Braner's method for the trap depth is unsuitable owing to the high value of their correction term 2 kT m/ E, although their analysis suggests that the order of the kinetics changes from nearly 1st to nearly 2nd as the glow progresses. The methods of Grossweiner, Keating and Luschik apply only when 1st order processes are selected. An estimation of the trapping cross-section gives S T ~ 10 -20 cm 2.