TY - JOUR
T1 - Diamond-metal contacts
T2 - Interface barriers and real-time characterization
AU - Evans, D. A.
AU - Roberts, O. R.
AU - Williams, G. T.
AU - Vearey-Roberts, Alex Raymond
AU - Bain, F.
AU - Evans, S.
AU - Langstaff, D. P.
AU - Twitchen, D. J.
PY - 2009/9/9
Y1 - 2009/9/9
N2 - A review of diamond-metal contacts is presented with reference to reported values of interfacial potential (Schottky) barriers and their dependence on macroscopic and microscopic properties of the diamond surface, the interface and the metal. No simple model can account for the overall spread of p-diamond barriers, although there are, for certain metals, correlations with metal electronegativity, interface chemistry and diamond surface preparation. Detailed studies are presented for a selected contact (Al-p-diamond) using real-time monitoring during metal growth from sub-nanometre to bulk films and subsequent in situ heating to 1000 °C. This contact, prepared in a clean vacuum environment on characterized single-crystal substrates, provides a case study for a combined in situ electrical and spectroscopic investigation using IV measurements for macroscopic diodes and real-time photoelectron spectroscopy for nanoscale metal films. Band bending during growth leads to a rectifying contact with a measured IV barrier height of 1.05 V and an ideality factor of 1.4. A transition from layered to clustered growth of the metal film is revealed in the real-time measurements and this is confirmed by AFM. For the annealed contact, a direct correlation is revealed by real-time photoemission between the onset of interfacial carbide formation and the change from a rectifying to an ohmic contact at 482 °C.
AB - A review of diamond-metal contacts is presented with reference to reported values of interfacial potential (Schottky) barriers and their dependence on macroscopic and microscopic properties of the diamond surface, the interface and the metal. No simple model can account for the overall spread of p-diamond barriers, although there are, for certain metals, correlations with metal electronegativity, interface chemistry and diamond surface preparation. Detailed studies are presented for a selected contact (Al-p-diamond) using real-time monitoring during metal growth from sub-nanometre to bulk films and subsequent in situ heating to 1000 °C. This contact, prepared in a clean vacuum environment on characterized single-crystal substrates, provides a case study for a combined in situ electrical and spectroscopic investigation using IV measurements for macroscopic diodes and real-time photoelectron spectroscopy for nanoscale metal films. Band bending during growth leads to a rectifying contact with a measured IV barrier height of 1.05 V and an ideality factor of 1.4. A transition from layered to clustered growth of the metal film is revealed in the real-time measurements and this is confirmed by AFM. For the annealed contact, a direct correlation is revealed by real-time photoemission between the onset of interfacial carbide formation and the change from a rectifying to an ohmic contact at 482 °C.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/2160/8246
U2 - 10.1088/0953-8984/21/36/364223
DO - 10.1088/0953-8984/21/36/364223
M3 - Article
C2 - 21832329
SN - 0953-8984
VL - 21
JO - Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
JF - Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
IS - 36
M1 - 364223
ER -