Electrical conductivity and photoluminescence of diamond films grown by downstream microwave plasma CVD

Electrical conductivity measurements and photoluminescence (PL) were used to study the effects that sample distance from the plasma during growth has on the carrier transport properties of undoped CVD diamond. The films were grown by downstream microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition at distances from 0.5 to 2.0 cm from the edge of plasma glow. Electrical conductivity measurements were performed between room temperature and 1000° C and then complimented with Raman spectroscopy and PL studies in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the CVD growth process and the resulting electrical and optical properties of the diamond films. Room temperature electrical conductivity was found to vary by over 5 orders of magnitude with increasing growth distance from the plasma, while only moderate changes were observed in the luminescence spectra.