Electically Active Defects and Carrier Trapping in Semiconducting Diamond

One of the important problems in the development of carbon-based electronics is the scattering and trapping of carriers (electrons and holes) at defects and impurities in the material. This limits the speed, efficiency and ultimately the exploitation of the material. The ultimate properties of diamond are such that it is potentially the material of choice for high-power, high-temperature and high-frequency electronic devices. Exploitation of diamond will only be possible if the detrimental defects and Impurities can be identified and removed or tamed. While we know quite a lot about the defects themselves, and about the electronic properties of the material, we do not know which of the defects and Impurities are the major trapping or scattering centres, and which should be eliminated or reduced in order to improve then materials electronic properties.

This Project involves a collaboration between Warwick, King's College, London (Department of Physics) and Sheffield Hallam University (Centre for Electronic Devices and Materials). These partners bring together four experimental techniques supported by theoretical modelling (for further information contact Prof Alison Mainwood) to help to interpret the experimental results, to try to address these issues. The experimental techniques are electrically detected electron paramagnetic resonance (ED-EPR), Laplace Deep level Transient spectroscopy (L-DLTS) at Sheffield Hallam University (for further information contact Prof Jan Evans-Freeman), Fourier Transform photocurrent spectroscopy (FTPS) at King's Collage London (for further information contact Prof Alan Collins) and conducting atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). They will be applied first to diamond, and then assessed for their usefulness on other carbon-based materials. The project will contribute these techniques to the Carbon based Electronics national consortium, for use on all the materials being researched.

If you are interested in utilising the experimental techniques in any collaborative research projects, or have any comments about this research at Warwick then please contact Mark Newton (m.e.newton@warwick.ac.uk).