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Electron spectroscopy of nanocrystalline diamond surfaces

J. ZEMEK1,* , J. HOUDKOVA1, B. LESIAK2, A. JABLONSKI2, J. POTMESIL1, M. VANECEK1

Affiliation

  1. Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 162 53 Praha 6, Czech Republic
  2. Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

Thin, fully optically transparent nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films prepared at growth temperatures from 400 °C to 1100 °C were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), angular-resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) and elastic peak electron spectroscopy (EPES). The ARXPS spectra were applied for estimating the extent of sp3 hybridization of carbon atoms in a surface region of the NCD films. Processing of the ARXPS C 1s lines indicated that above 90 % of carbon atoms exhibiting the sp3 hybridization in the analyzed volume. The very top surface was found to be less enriched with the sp3 hybridized carbon atoms. The inelastic mean free paths (IMFP) of electrons in NCD films were evaluated in the electron energy range 200 eV – 2400 eV from the measurement of the electron elastic backscattering probability and the Monte Carlo (MC) calculations of electron transport. The resulting IMFPs were compared to the IMFPs calculated from the optical data and from the TPP-2M predictive formulae, where pronounced difference between both sources of calculated IMFP values was found. The EPES IMFPs in five NCD films indicated no differences. Close agreement of the present IMFPs to those calculated from the optical data was found..

Keywords

Nanocrystalline diamond film, Electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Electronic structure, Surface properties.

Submitted at: Oct. 11, 2006
Accepted at: Nov. 2, 2006

Citation

J. ZEMEK, J. HOUDKOVA, B. LESIAK, A. JABLONSKI, J. POTMESIL, M. VANECEK, Electron spectroscopy of nanocrystalline diamond surfaces, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 8, Iss. 6, pp. 2133-2138 (2006)