Laser vibrational excitation of radicals to prevent crystallinity degradation caused by boron doping in diamond

Authors

L Fan, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
L Constantin, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Z P. Wu, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
K A. McElveen, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
X G. Chen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
F Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
C Debiemme-Chouvy, 7 Laboratoire Interfaces et Systémes Electrochimiques, UMR 8235, CNRS, Sorbonne Université
B Cui, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
R Y. Lai, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
X Li, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J F. Silvain, The French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Y F. Lu, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

1-20-2021

Citation

L. Fan, L.Constantin, Z. P. Wu, K.A. McElveen, X.G. Chen, T.He, F.Wang, C.Debiemme-Chouvy, B. Cui, R. Y. Lai, X. Li, J. F. Silvain, Y. F. Lu, Laser vibrational excitation of radicals to prevent crystallinity degradation caused by boron doping in diamond. Sci. Adv. 7, eabc7547 (2021).

Comments

CC-BY-NC

Abstract

Pursuing high-level doping without deteriorating crystallinity is prohibitively difficult but scientifically crucial to unleashing the hidden power of materials. This study demonstrates an effective route for maintaining lattice integrity during the combustion chemical vapor deposition of highly conductive boron-doped diamonds (BDDs) through laser vibrational excitation of a growth-critical radical, boron dihydride (BH₂). The improved diamond crystallinity is attributed to a laser-enabled, thermal nonequilibrium suppression of the relative abundance of boron hydrides (BH), whose excessive presence induces boron segregation and disturbs the crystallization. The BDDs show a boron concentration of 4.3 × 10²¹ cm⁻³, a film resistivity of 28.1 milliohm·cm, and hole mobility of 55.6 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, outperforming a commercial BDD. The highly conductive and crystalline BDDs exhibit enhanced efficiency in sensing glucose, confirming the advantages of laser excitation in producing high-performance BDD sensors. Regaining crystallinity with laser excitation in doping process could remove the long-standing bottlenecks in semiconductor industry.