Electronic properties of CVD diamond

The electronic properties of chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond are reviewed based on data measured by transient and spectrally resolved photoconductivity experiments, photo-thermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) where substitutional nitrogen (P1-centre) and carbon defects (H1-centre) are detected. The results show that nominally undoped high quality polycrystalline CVD diamond is a n-type semiconductor due to the presence of substitutional nitrogen. The sub-band-gap optical absorption is governed by amorphous graphite present at grain boundaries. Spectrally resolved photoconductivity experiments measured in the same regime are partially dominated by diamond bulk properties which are comparable to single crystalline Ib and IIa diamond and partially by grain boundaries. Mobilities and drift length of carriers are discussed and compared to properties of single crystalline diamond.