Ab initio study of avalanche breakdown in diamond for power device applications

We investigate the high-field carrier transport in diamond using a full band Monte Carlo method based on ab initio calculations. The calculated breakdown field and breakdown voltage show good agreement with experimental data of n⁺p^- one-sided abrupt junctions with the acceptor density <; 10¹⁷ cm^-3. The evaluated power device figure-of-merit of diamond suggests its advantage for high temperature applications.