Electrical properties of thin nanocrystalline diamond-based Schottky barrier diodes and other two terminal structures

Diamond possesses many unique characteristics that make it attractive for a number of applications. Research in electronics has seen the development of diamond-based devices over recent years but they have, for the most part, remained structurally flat. This thesis presents a preliminary study on the fabrication potential of flexible diamond electronics. Undoped nanocrystalline diamond (nanodiamond) films grown from a microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPECVD) process ranging from 0.25--1.0 mum in thickness were used in the fabrication of electronic devices and current-voltage characteristics were investigated. Both freestanding nanodiamond films and substrate-mounted films were studied. For the latter, Schottky barrier diodes of a zirconium-nanodiamond-silicon configuration were fabricated from nanodiamond film of varying thickness and rectification ratios up to 1.1 x 104 at +/-80 V were observed. Temperature dependence of both the Schottky junction and field-activated conductivity following a Poole-Frenkel reduction in ionization energy was studied. This thesis also includes a preliminary investigation into the unintentional development of what is speculated to be a nanodiamond/carbon-filament based Schottky barrier diode. Current-voltage characteristics were studied under varying nanodiamond film thickness and temperature where rectification ratios up to 1.69 x 105 were observed at +/-10 V.