Abstract
The correlation between electron field-emission properties of diamond films prepared by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process and the defect structure induced by boron doping was examined. Secondary ion mass spectroscopic analysis indicates that the solubility limit of boron in diamond is (B 3+ ) 2 = 5 × 10 21 cm -3 whereas the infrared absorption (IR) spectroscopic analysis reveals that the largest boron concentration that can be incorporated as substitutional dopants is only one tenth of the solubility limit, (B 3+ ) d = 5 × 10 20 cm -3 . Including boron species higher than this concentration induces large strain and atomic defects, which are inferred by the distorted Raman resonance peak, noisy IR spectra, and twinned microstructure for diamond. Presumably, the presence of atomic defects, which behave as electron traps, is the mechanism deteriorating the electron field-emission properties of CVD diamonds. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.