Synthesis and characterization of highly-conducting nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond films

Ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films with up to 0.2% total nitrogen content were synthesized by a microwave plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor-deposition method using a CH4(1%)/Ar gas mixture and 1%–20% nitrogen gas added. The electrical conductivity of the nitrogen-doped UNCD films increases by five orders of magnitude (up to 143 Ω−1 cm−1) with increasing nitrogen content. Conductivity and Hall measurements made as a function of film temperature down to 4.2 K indicate that these films have the highest n-type conductivity and carrier concentration demonstrated for phase-pure diamond thin films. Grain-boundary conduction is proposed to explain the remarkable transport properties of these films.