Metal–diamond semiconductor interface and photodiode application

Carrier transport mechanism at p-diamond/metal interfaces are studied by analyzing dependencies of specific contact resistance (ρc) on measurement temperature and acceptor concentration (NA). A variety of metals, such as Ti, Mo, Cr (carbide-forming metals), Pd, and Co (carbon-soluble metals), are deposited on boron-doped polycrystalline diamond layers, and the ρc values are measured by a transmission line method. Thermal annealing which produces metallurgical reactions between diamond and metal reduces Schottky barrier heights of the contact metals to a constant value. It is found that use of a metal compound which does not react with diamond at elevated temperatures is the key to develop the thermally stable Schottky contact material for p-diamond. Along this guideline, we test the suitability of tungsten carbide (WC) and hafnium nitride (HfN) as thermally stable Schottky contacts to develop a thermally stable, deep-ultraviolet (DUV) photodiode using a boron-doped homoepitaxial p-diamond epilayer. Thermal annealing at 500 °C improves the rectifying current–voltage characteristics of the photodiode, resulting in the excellent thermal stability. The discrimination ratio between DUV and visible light is measured to be as large as 106 at a reverse bias voltage as small as 2 V, and it remains almost constant after annealing at 500 °C for 5 h. Metal carbide and nitride contacts for diamond are thus useful for developing a thermally stable diamond DUV photodetector.