Field emission characteristics of boron-doped diamond films prepared by MPE-CVD

The effect of post-treatment process on electron field emission properties of the chemical vapor deposited diamond films, which were incorporated with boron-species, was examined. The SIMS profile and IR spectroscopy reveal t hat the solubility limit of boron species in diamond materials is around (B 3+) = 5 x 10(21) cm(-3), whereas the concentration of boron-species, which can be incorporated as substitutional dopants in diamond lattice is one ten th of solubility limit, i.e., (B3+) = 5 x 10(20) cm(-3). The electron field emission properties of the as-deposited diamond films vary with the boron- content significantly. Moreover, post-annealing in vacuum alters the electr on field emission properties of the films mainly via the rearrangement of t he defects. Therefore, the electron emission capacity of lightly boron-dope d diamonds is markedly suppressed and that of the heavily boron-doped diamo nds is insignificantly modified due to post-annealing process. (C) 1999 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.