The effect of substitutional nitrogen incorporation on electron emission from CVD diamond

Nitrogen-doped CVD diamond films with varying substitutional nitrogen content were prepared. Relatively large amounts of substitutional nitrogen were successfully incorporated into the growing diamond without degrading the quality of the diamond when melamine (C/sub 3/H/sub 6/N/sub 6/) was used as a dopant precursor. It was found that substitutional nitrogen doping has a negligible effect on the electron emission properties of the CVD diamond films. Field emission characteristics from diamond powder coated emitters were also investigated. The effect of substitutional nitrogen incorporation on field emission from diamond is discussed.