Diamond photoconductors: operational lifetime and radiation hardness underdeep-UV excimer laser irradiation

The first study of long term pulse exposure and fluence level on the perfor mance of CVD diamond photodetectors subjected to 193 nm excimer laser radia tion has been performed. Whilst diamond is considered 'radiation hard' it i s shown that damage to detector performance can be provoked at laser fluenc e levels considerably below that required for graphitisation or ablation. H owever, the application of defect passivation treatments prior to device us e acts to considerably reduce the damaging effect of the radiation, such th at devices suitable for stable laser monitoring applications can be realise d. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.