Local boron environment in B-doped nanocrystalline diamond films

Stuart Turner, Ying-Gang Lu, Stoffel D. Janssens, Fabiana Da Pieve, Dirk Lamoen, Jo Verbeeck, Ken Haenen, Patrick Wagner, Gustaaf Van Tendeloo
2012 Nanoscale  
Thin films of heavily B-doped nanocrystalline diamond (B:NCD) have been investigated by a combination of high resolution annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy and spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy performed on a state-of-the-art aberration corrected instrument to determine the B concentration, distribution and the local B environment. Concentrations of $1 to 3 at.% of boron are found to be embedded within individual grains. Even though most NCD grains
more » ... e surrounded by a thin amorphous shell, elemental mapping of the B and C signal shows no preferential embedding of B in these amorphous shells or in grain boundaries between the NCD grains, in contrast with earlier work on more macroscopic superconducting polycrystalline Bdoped diamond films. Detailed inspection of the fine structure of the boron K-edge and comparison with density functional theory calculated fine structure energy-loss near-edge structure signatures confirms that the B atoms present in the diamond grains are substitutional atoms embedded tetrahedrally into the diamond lattice.
doi:10.1039/c2nr31530k pmid:22903371 fatcat:72mzug2m5vhq7kfdtlxlpujymy