The nitrogen-doped (N-doped), type Ib, synthetic diamond (100) surface
was investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) a
nd ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). Photoelectron emissio
n data from the boron-doped (B-doped) and the N-doped diamond (100) su
rfaces were compared and permitted the energy band diagrams for these
differently terminated surfaces to be drawn. We observed emission from
energy levels below the conduction band minimum up to the vacuum leve
l and therefore succeed in evaluating the negative electron affinity (
NEA) of the hydrogen-terminated diamond surfaces. Both the hydrogen-te
rminated N- and B-doped diamond (100) surfaces show NEA values of at l
east -0.2 and -1.0 eV, respectively, while the hydrogen-free surfaces
show positive electron affinity. In contrast to the hydrogen-terminate
d B-doped (100) surface, UPS measurements an the hydrogen-terminated N
-doped (100) surface do not reveal a high intensity NEA peak owing to
the strong upward band bending. The high intensity NEA peak of B-doped
diamond seems to be due to the downward band bending together with th
e reduced work function because of hydrogen termination. The work func
tion increases for subsequent hydrogen desorption at higher annealing
temperatures with associated loss of NEA. For the N-doped diamond (100
) surface the work function behaves similarly but the observation of a
NEA peak is absent because of the surface barrier formed by the upwar
d band bending. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.