22 July 2004

Gem of a semiconductor

Diamond is an insulator, but by introducing impurities into the crystal, in a process called doping, it can be turned into a semiconductor. However, despite a range of potential applications, the success of semiconducting diamond has been limited. One problem is its high dopant activation energy (hence low charge-carrier concentration). A new process could transform the fortunes of diamond as an electronic material. The simple technique introduces dopants (in this case, C₆₀ fullerenes) onto a hydrogenated diamond surface by evaporation. Subsurface positively charged 'holes' are generated, increasing two-dimensional electronic conductivity. The resulting semiconductor combines the surface properties of diamond with the unique properties of C₆₀.

Surface transfer doping of diamond
P. STROBEL, M. RIEDEL, J. RISTEIN & L. LEY
Nature 430, 439–441 (2004); doi:10.1038/nature02751
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