Electronic structure of boron doped diamond: An x-ray spectroscopic study

• Published in: Applied physics letters Vol. 102; no. 16; p. 162103
• Main Authors: Glans, P.-A., Learmonth, T., Smith, K. E., Ferro, S., De Battisti, A., Mattesini, M., Ahuja, R., Guo, J.-H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 22-04-2013
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4802814

The valence and conduction band electronic structure of boron-doped diamond has been measured using soft x-ray emission and absorption spectroscopy. The experimental results reveal p-type doping in the diamond film through the appearance of states in the band-gap. Structure distortion was observed around the doping center, while the long range order of the diamond structure remains. A chemically shifted C 1s level explains why one of the absorption features seems to appear below the valence band maximum. An excitonic feature was observed in the boron-doped diamond, similar to that observed in pure diamond, indicating that the exciton binding energy remains the same upon B-doping.