Electrical characterization of a graphite-diamond-graphite junction fabricated by MeV carbon implantation

The Deep Ion Beam Lithography technique has been extensively adopted in recent years for the fabrication of graphitic electrodes in bulk diamond with a wide range of technological applications. Particularly, it has been recently shown that a high current can be driven in devices consisting of micrometer-spaced sub-superficial graphitic electrodes. This effect has been exploited to stimulate electroluminescence from color centers placed in the active region of the device. A deep understanding of the conduction mechanisms governing charge transport in micro-regions of defective diamond comprised between graphitic electrodes is necessary in order to fully exploit the functionality of these opto-electronic devices, as well as to assess the ion-beam-micromachining of diamond as a convenient technique for the fabrication of solid-state micro-devices. In this work, a temperature-dependent characterization of the electrical properties of a sub-superficial graphite-diamond-graphite junction is presented and discussed. The ohmic behavior observed at low bias voltages is ascribed to a donor level with an activation energy of (0.217 ± 0.002) eV, a value compatible with previous reports on nitrogen-related defects. A transition to a high-current regime above a critical voltage VC was also observed, and interpreted in terms of the Space-Charge-Limited Current model. The temperature-dependent measurements allowed to investigate the role of charge trapping in the charge injection mechanism of the junction. By fitting the temperature dependence in the high-current regime it was possible to determine the relevant trap level of the associated Poole-Frenkel mechanism, leading to a value of (0.278 ± 0.001) eV from the conduction band. The Poole-Frenkel conduction model in high-current regime enabled also a preliminary investigation in the effects of ion implantation on the modification of the dc dielectric constant of diamond.