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At least 379 records · Page 21
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Ferromagnetic ordering of Cr and Fe doped p-type diamond: An ab initio study

Ferromagnetic ordering of transition metal dopants in semiconductors holds the prospect of combining the capabilities of semiconductors and magnetic systems in single hybrid devices for spintronic applications. Various semiconductors have so far been considered for spintronic applications, but low Curie temperatures have hindered room temperature applications. We report ab initio DFT calculations on the stability and magnetic properties of Fe and Cr impurities in diamond, and show that their ground state magnetic ordering and stabilization energies depend strongly on the charge state and type of co-doping. We predict that divacancy Cr{sup +2} and substitutional Fe{sup +1} order ferromagnetically in p-type diamond, with magnetic stabilization energies (and magnetic moment per impurity ion) of 16.9 meV (2.5 μ{sub B}) and 33.3 meV (1.0 μ{sub B}), respectively. These magnetic stabilization energies are much larger than what has been achieved in other semiconductors at comparable impurity concentrations, including the archetypal dilute magnetic semiconductor GaAs:Mn. In addition, substitutional Fe{sup +1} exhibits a strong half-metallic character, with the Fermi level crossing bands in only the spin down channel. These results, combined with diamond’s extreme properties, demonstrate that Cr or Fe dopedp-type diamond may successfully be considered in the search for room temperature spintronic materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Perfect alignment and preferential orientation of nitrogen-vacancy centers during chemical vapor deposition diamond growth on (111) surfaces

Synthetic diamond production is a key to the development of quantum metrology and quantum information applications of diamond. The major quantum sensor and qubit candidate in diamond is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center. This lattice defect comes in four different crystallographic orientations leading to an intrinsic inhomogeneity among NV centers, which is undesirable in some applications. Here, we report a microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition diamond growth technique on (111)-oriented substrates, which yields perfect alignment (94% ± 2%) of as-grown NV centers along a single crystallographic direction. In addition, clear evidence is found that the majority (74% ± 4%) of the aligned NV centers were formed by the nitrogen being first included in the (111) growth surface and then followed by the formation of a neighboring vacancy on top. The achieved homogeneity of the grown NV centers will tremendously benefit quantum information and metrology applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Perfect preferential orientation of nitrogen-vacancy defects in a synthetic diamond sample

We show that the orientation of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects in diamond can be efficiently controlled through chemical vapor deposition growth on a (111)-oriented diamond substrate. More precisely, we demonstrate that spontaneously generated NV defects are oriented with a ∼97% probability along the [111] axis, corresponding to the most appealing orientation among the four possible crystallographic axes. Such a nearly perfect preferential orientation is explained by analyzing the diamond growth mechanism on a (111)-oriented substrate and could be extended to other types of defects. This work is a significant step towards the design of optimized diamond samples for quantum information and sensing applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Superconducting nanowire single photon detector on diamond

Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors are fabricated directly on diamond substrates and their optical and electrical properties are characterized. Dark count performance and photon count rates are measured at varying temperatures for 1310 nm and 632 nm photons. A multi-step diamond surface polishing procedure is reported, involving iterative reactive ion etching and mechanical polishing to create a suitable diamond surface for the deposition and patterning of thin film superconducting layers. Using this approach, diamond substrates with less than 300 pm Root Mean Square surface roughness are obtained.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

High quality factor nanocrystalline diamond micromechanical resonators limited by thermoelastic damping

We demonstrate high quality factor thin-film nanocrystalline diamond micromechanical resonators with quality factors limited by thermoelastic damping. Cantilevers, single-anchored and double-anchored double-ended tuning forks, were fabricated from 2.5 μm thick in-situ boron doped nanocrystalline diamond films deposited using hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Thermal conductivity measured by time-domain thermoreflectance resulted in 24 ± 3 W m{sup −1} K{sup −1} for heat transport through the thickness of the diamond film. The resonant frequencies of the fabricated resonators were 46 kHz–8 MHz and showed a maximum measured Q ≈ 86 000 at f{sub n} = 46.849 kHz. The measured Q-factors are shown to be in good agreement with the limit imposed by thermoelastic dissipation calculated using the measured thermal conductivity. The mechanical properties extracted from resonant frequency measurements indicate a Young's elastic modulus of ≈788 GPa, close to that of microcrystalline diamond.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Role of deuterium desorption kinetics on the thermionic emission properties of polycrystalline diamond films with respect to kinetic isotope effects

The desorption kinetics of deuterium from polycrystalline chemical vapor deposited diamond films were characterized by monitoring the isothermal thermionic emission current behavior. The reaction was observed to follow a first-order trend as evidenced by the decay rate of the thermionic emission current over time which is in agreement with previously reported studies. However, an Arrhenius plot of the reaction rates at each tested temperature did not exhibit the typical linear behavior which appears to contradict past observations of the hydrogen (or deuterium) desorption reaction from diamond. This observed deviation from linearity, specifically at lower temperatures, has been attributed to non-classical processes. Though no known previous studies reported similar deviations, a reanalysis of the data obtained in the present study was performed to account for tunneling which appeared to add merit to this hypothesis. Additional investigations were performed by reevaluating previously reported data involving the desorption of hydrogen (as opposed to deuterium) from diamond which further indicated this reaction to be dominated by tunneling at the temperatures tested in this study (<775 °C). An activation energy of 3.19 eV and a pre-exponential constant of 2.3 × 10{sup 12} s{sup −1} were determined for the desorption reaction of deuterium from diamond which is in agreement with previously reported studies.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Localized chemical switching of the charge state of nitrogen-vacancy luminescence centers in diamond

We present a direct-write chemical technique for controlling the charge state of near-surface nitrogen vacancy centers (NVs) in diamond by surface fluorination. Fluorination of H-terminated diamond is realized by electron beam stimulated desorption of H{sub 2}O in the presence of NF{sub 3} and verified with environmental photoyield spectroscopy (EPYS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. PL spectra of shallow NVs in H- and F-terminated nanodiamonds show the expected dependence of the NV charge state on their energetic position with respect to the Fermi-level. EPYS reveals a corresponding difference between the ionization potential of H- and F-terminated diamond. The electron beam fluorination process is highly localized and can be used to fluorinate H-terminated diamond, and to increase the population of negatively charged NV centers.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

The semi-empirical tight-binding model for carbon allotropes “between diamond and graphite”

The new carbon allotropes “between diamond and graphite” have come under intensive examination during the last decade due to their numerous technical applications. The modification of energy gap in thin films of these allotropes was studied experimentally using optical methods. The proposed simple model of carbon clusters with variable lengths of chemical bonds allows us to imitate the transfer from diamond and diamond-like to graphite-like structures, as well as the corresponding modification of hybridization sp{sup 3}/sp{sup 2} for diamond-like and sp{sub z} for graphite-like phases. This enables us to estimate various allotropes parameters, like the gap E{sub g}, energies of valence E{sub v}, and conduction E{sub c} band edges, and the value of electronic affinity, i.e., optical work function X, which are all of practical importance. The obtained estimations correspond to the experimental data.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Large improvement of phosphorus incorporation efficiency in n-type chemical vapor deposition of diamond

Microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition is a promising way to generate n-type, e.g., phosphorus-doped, diamond layers for the fabrication of electronic components, which can operate at extreme conditions. However, a deeper understanding of the doping process is lacking and low phosphorus incorporation efficiencies are generally observed. In this work, it is shown that systematically changing the internal design of a non-commercial chemical vapor deposition chamber, used to grow diamond layers, leads to a large increase of the phosphorus doping efficiency in diamond, produced in this device, without compromising its electronic properties. Compared to the initial reactor design, the doping efficiency is about 100 times higher, reaching 10%, and for a very broad doping range, the doping efficiency remains highly constant. It is hypothesized that redesigning the deposition chamber generates a higher flow of active phosphorus species towards the substrate, thereby increasing phosphorus incorporation in diamond and reducing deposition of phosphorus species at reactor walls, which additionally reduces undesirable memory effects.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electrochemically grafted polypyrrole changes photoluminescence of electronic states inside nanocrystalline diamond

Hybrid diamond-organic interfaces are considered attractive for diverse applications ranging from electronics and energy conversion to medicine. Here we use time-resolved and time-integrated photoluminescence spectroscopy in visible spectral range (380–700 nm) to study electronic processes in H-terminated nanocrystalline diamond films (NCD) with 150 nm thin, electrochemically deposited polypyrrole (PPy) layer. We observe changes in dynamics of NCD photoluminescence as well as in its time-integrated spectra after polymer deposition. The effect is reversible. We propose a model where the PPy layer on the NCD surface promotes spatial separation of photo-generated charge carriers both in non-diamond carbon phase and in bulk diamond. By comparing different NCD thicknesses we show that the effect goes as much as 200 nm deep inside the NCD film.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

High-pressure generation using double stage micro-paired diamond anvils shaped by focused ion beam

Micron-sized diamond anvils with a 3 μm culet were successfully processed using a focused ion beam (FIB) system and the generation of high pressures was confirmed using the double stage diamond anvil cell technique. The difficulty of aligning two second-stage micro-anvils was solved via the paired micro-anvil method. Micro-manufacturing using a FIB system enables us to control anvil shape, process any materials, including nano-polycrystalline diamond and single crystal diamond, and assemble the sample exactly in a very small space between the second-stage anvils. This method is highly reproducible. High pressures over 300 GPa were achieved, and the pressure distribution around the micro-anvil culet was evaluated by using a well-focused synchrotron micro-X-ray beam.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Isotope analysis of diamond-surface passivation effect of high-temperature H{sub 2}O-grown atomic layer deposition-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films

The Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} film formed using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) method with trimethylaluminum as Al precursor and H{sub 2}O as oxidant at a high temperature (450 °C) effectively passivates the p-type surface conduction (SC) layer specific to a hydrogen-terminated diamond surface, leading to a successful operation of diamond SC field-effect transistors at 400 °C. In order to investigate this excellent passivation effect, we carried out an isotope analysis using D{sub 2}O instead of H{sub 2}O in the ALD and found that the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} film formed at a conventional temperature (100 °C) incorporates 50 times more CH{sub 3} groups than the high-temperature film. This CH{sub 3} is supposed to dissociate from the film when heated afterwards at a higher temperature (550 °C) and causes peeling patterns on the H-terminated surface. The high-temperature film is free from this problem and has the largest mass density and dielectric constant among those investigated in this study. The isotope analysis also unveiled a relatively active H-exchange reaction between the diamond H-termination and H{sub 2}O oxidant during the high-temperature ALD, the SC still being kept intact. This dynamic and yet steady H termination is realized by the suppressed oxidation due to the endothermic reaction with H{sub 2}O. Additionally, we not only observed the kinetic isotope effect in the form of reduced growth rate of D{sub 2}O-oxidant ALD but found that the mass density and dielectric constant of D{sub 2}O-grown Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films are smaller than those of H{sub 2}O-grown films. This is a new type of isotope effect, which is not caused by the presence of isotopes in the films unlike the traditional isotope effects that originate from the presence of isotopes itself. Hence, the high-temperature ALD is very effective in forming Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films as a passivation and/or gate-insulation layer of high-temperature-operation diamond SC devices, and the knowledge of the aforementioned new isotope effect will be a basis for further enhancing ALD technologies in general.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

High-quality and high-purity homoepitaxial diamond (100) film growth under high oxygen concentration condition

Defect formation during diamond homoepitaxial growth was sufficiently inhibited by adding oxygen simultaneously in the growth ambient with high concentration of 2%. A 30-μm thick diamond films with surface roughness of <2 nm were homoepitaxially deposited on the (100) diamond single crystal substrates with reasonable growth rate of approximately 3 μm h{sup −1} under the conditions of higher methane concentration of 10%, higher substrate temperature of ∼1000 °C, and higher microwave power density condition of >100 W cm{sup −3}. Surface characteristic patterns moved to an identical direction with growth thickness, indicating that lateral growth was dominant growth mode. High chemical purity represented by low nitrogen concentration of less than 1 ppb and the highest {sup 12}C isotopic ratio of 99.998% of the obtained homoepitaxial diamond (100) films suggest that the proposed growth condition has high ability of impurity control.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Spectroscopic properties and radiation damage investigation of a diamond based Schottky diode for ion-beam therapy microdosimetry

In this work, a detailed analysis of the properties of a novel microdosimeter based on a synthetic single crystal diamond is reported. Focused ion microbeams were used to investigate the device spectropscopic properties as well as the induced radiation damage effects. A diamond based Schottky diode was fabricated by chemical vapor deposition with a very thin detecting region, about 400 nm thick (approximately 1.4 μm water equivalent thickness), corresponding to the typical size in microdosimetric measurements. A 200 × 200 μm{sup 2} square metallic contact was patterned on the diamond surface by standard photolithography to define the sensitive area. Experimental measurements were carried out at the Ruder Boškovic′ Institute microbeam facility using 4 MeV carbon and 5 MeV silicon ions. Ion beam induced charge maps were employed to characterize the microdosimeter response in terms of its charge collection properties. A stable response with no evidence of polarization or memory effects was observed up to the maximum investigated ion beam flux of about 1.7 × 10{sup 9} ions·cm{sup −2}·s{sup −1}. A homogeneity of the response about 6% was found over the sensitive region with a well-defined confinement of the response within the active area. Tests of the radiation damage effect were performed by selectively irradiating small areas of the device with different ion fluences, up to about 10{sup 12} ions/cm{sup 2}. An exponential decrease of the charge collection efficiency was observed with a characteristic decay constant of about 4.8 MGy and 1 MGy for C and Si ions, respectively. The experimental data were analyzed by means of GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulations. A direct correlation between the diamond damaging effect and the Non Ionizing Energy Loss (NIEL) fraction was found. In particular, an exponential decay of the charge collection efficiency with an exponential decay as a function of NIEL is observed, with a characteristic constant of about 9.3 kGy-NIEL for both carbon and silicon ions.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Transmission x-ray microscopy at Diamond-Manchester I13 Imaging Branchline

Full-field Transmission X-ray Microscopy (TXM) has been shown to be a powerful method for obtaining quantitative internal structural and chemical information from materials at the nanoscale. The installation of a Full-field TXM station will extend the current microtomographic capabilities of the Diamond-Manchester I13 Imaging Branchline at Diamond Light Source (UK) into the sub-100 nm spatial resolution range using photon energies from 8 to 14 keV. The dedicated Full-field TXM station will be built in-house with contributions of Diamond Light Source support divisions and via collaboration with the X-ray Optics Group of Paul Scherrer Institut (Switzerland) which will develop state-of-the-art diffractive X-ray optical elements. Preliminary results of the I13 Full-field TXM station are shown. The Full-field TXM will become an important Diamond Light Source direct imaging asset for material science, energy science and biology at the nanoscale.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Transient photoresponse of nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond electrodes in saline solution

Beyond conventional electrically-driven neuronal stimulation methods, there is a growing interest in optically-driven approaches. In recent years, nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond (N-UNCD) has emerged as a strong material candidate for use in electrically-driven stimulation electrodes. This work investigates the electrochemical activity of N-UNCD in response to pulsed illumination, to assess its potential for use as an optically-driven stimulation electrode. Whilst N-UNCD in the as-grown state exhibits a weak photoresponse, the oxygen plasma treated film exhibits two orders of magnitude enhancement in its sub-bandgap open circuit photovoltage response. The enhancement is attributed to the formation of a dense network of oxygen-terminated diamond nanocrystals at the N-UNCD surface. Electrically connected to the N-UNCD bulk via sub-surface graphitic grain boundaries, these diamond nanocrystals introduce a semiconducting barrier between the sub-surface graphitic semimetal and the electrolyte solution, leading to a photovoltage under irradiation with wavelengths of λ = 450 nm and shorter. Within the safe optical exposure limit of 2 mW mm{sup −2}, charge injection capacity of 0.01 mC cm{sup −2} is achieved using a 15 × 15 μm electrode, meeting the requirements for extracellular and intercellular stimulation. The nanoscale nature of processes presented here along with the diamond's biocompatibility and biostability open an avenue for the use of oxygen treated N-UNCD as optically driven stimulating electrodes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Transparency of the strong shock-compressed diamond for 532 nm laser light

An optical reflectivity and transmissivity model for the shock-compressed diamond is established and used to calculate the optical reflectivity and transmissivity of the diamond under different shock compressions. The simulated results indicate that the reflection occurs at the shock front and does not depend on the thickness of the compressed diamond, but the transmissivity decreases with the thickness. The simulated reflectivity is consistent with the experimental results in the literature, which validates the model. It is shown that the diamond keeps transparent when the shock pressure is lower than 2.00 Mbar, and becomes opaque but does not reflect the probe laser as the shock pressure increases from 2.00 Mbar to 4.60 Mbar and reflects the probe laser markedly when the shock pressure is higher than 4.60 Mbar.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Single-layer nano-carbon film, diamond film, and diamond/nano-carbon composite film field emission performance comparison

A series of single-layer nano-carbon (SNC) films, diamond films, and diamond/nano-carbon (D/NC) composite films have been prepared on the highly doped silicon substrate by using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition techniques. The films were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and field emission I-V measurements. The experimental results indicated that the field emission maximum current density of D/NC composite films is 11.8–17.8 times that of diamond films. And the field emission current density of D/NC composite films is 2.9–5 times that of SNC films at an electric field of 3.0 V/μm. At the same time, the D/NC composite film exhibits the advantage of improved reproducibility and long term stability (both of the nano-carbon film within the D/NC composite cathode and the SNC cathode were prepared under the same experimental conditions). And for the D/NC composite sample, a high current density of 10 mA/cm{sup 2} at an electric field of 3.0 V/μm was obtained. Diamond layer can effectively improve the field emission characteristics of nano-carbon film. The reason may be due to the diamond film acts as the electron acceleration layer.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗