The Combined Influence of Dopant Species and Surface Termination on the Electronic Properties of Diamond Surfaces

The combined effects of geometrical structure and chemical composition on the diamond surface electronic structures have been investigated in the present study by using high-level theoretical calculations. The effects of diamond surface planes [(111) vs. (100)], surface terminations (H, F, OH, O<...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Karin Larsson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
Series:C
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5629/6/2/22
Description
Summary:The combined effects of geometrical structure and chemical composition on the diamond surface electronic structures have been investigated in the present study by using high-level theoretical calculations. The effects of diamond surface planes [(111) vs. (100)], surface terminations (H, F, OH, O<sub>ontop</sub>, O<sub>bridge</sub>, vs. NH<sub>2</sub>), and substitutional doping (B, N vs. P), were of the largest interest to study. As a measure of different electronic structures, the bandgaps, work functions, and electron affinities have been used. In addition to the effects by the doping elements, the different diamond surface planes [(111) vs. (100)] were also observed to cause large differences in the electronic structures. With few exceptions, this was also the case for the surface termination species. For example, O<sub>ontop</sub>-termination was found to induce surface electron conductivities for all systems in the present study (except for a non-doped (100) surface). The other types of surface terminating species induced a reduction in bandgap values. The calculated bandgap ranges for the (111) surface were 3.4–5.7 (non-doping), and 0.9–5.3 (B-doping). For the (100) surface, the ranges were 0.9–5.3 (undoping) and 3.2–4.3 (B-doping). For almost all systems in the present investigation, it was found that photo-induced electron emission cannot take place. The only exception is the non-doped NH<sub>2</sub>-terminated diamond (111) surface, for which a direct photo-induced electron emission is possible.
ISSN:2311-5629