Thermal conductivity changes upon neutron transmutation of 10B doped diamond

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10B doped p-type diamond samples were subjected to neutron transmutation reaction using thermal neutron flux of 0.9 × 1013 cm−2 s−1 and fast neutron flux of 0.09 × 1013 cm−2 s−1. Another sample of epilayer grown on type IIa (110) single crystal diamond substrate was subjected to equal thermal and fast neutron flux of 1014 cm−2 s−1. The defects in the diamond samples were previously characterized by different methods. In the present work, thermal conductivity of these diamond samples was determined at room temperature by transient thermoreflectance method. The thermal conductivity change in the samples as a function of neutron fluence is explained by the phonon scattering from the point defects and disordered regions. The thermal conductivity of the diamond samples decreased more rapidly initially and less rapidly for larger neutron fluence. In addition, the thermal conductivity in type IIb diamond decreased less rapidly with thermal neutron fluence compared to the decrease in type IIa diamond subjected to fast neutron fluence. It is concluded that the rate of production of defects during transmutation reaction is slower when thermal neutrons are used. The thermal conductivity of epilayer of diamond subjected to high thermal and fast neutron fluence is associated with the covalent carbon network in the composite structure consisting of disordered carbon and sp2 bonded nanocrystalline regions.