Mapping the local spatial charge in defective diamond by means of NV sensors - A "self-diagnostic" concept

Abstract

Electrically-active defects have a significant impact on the performance of electronic devices based on wide band-gap materials such as diamond. This issue is ubiquitous in diamond science and technology, since the presence of charge traps in the active regions of different classes of diamond-based devices (detectors, power diodes, transistors) can significantly affect their performances, due to the formation of space charge, memory effects and the degradation of the electronic response associated with radiation damage. Among the most common defects in diamond, the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center possesses unique spin properties which enable high-sensitivity field sensing at the nanoscale. Here we demonstrate that NV ensembles can be successfully exploited to perform a direct local mapping of the internal electric field distribution of a graphite-diamond-graphite junction exhibiting electrical properties dominated by trap- and space-charge-related conduction mechanisms. By performing optically-detected magnetic resonance measurements, we performed both punctual readout and spatial mapping of the electric field in the active region at different bias voltages. In this novel "self-diagnostic" approach, defect complexes represent not only the source of detrimental space charge effects, but also a unique tool to directly investigate them, by providing experimental evidences on the conduction mechanisms that in previous studies could only be indirectly inferred on the basis of conventional electrical and optical characterization.

References in corpus (28)

• The nitrogen-vacancy colour centre in diamond
• High-sensitivity diamond magnetometer with nanoscale resolution
• Sensing electric fields using single diamond spins
• Temperature dependence of the nitrogen-vacancy magnetic resonance in diamond
• Electronic properties and metrology of the diamond NV- center under pressure
• Theory of the ground state spin of the NV- center in diamond: I. Fine structure, hyperfine structure, and interactions with electric, magnetic and strain fields
• Theory of the ground state spin of the NV- center in diamond: II. Spin solutions, time-evolution, relaxation and inhomogeneous dephasing
• Sub-millihertz magnetic spectroscopy with a nanoscale quantum sensor
• Dynamical Decoupling of a single electron spin at room temperature
• Decoherence and dynamical decoupling control of nitrogen-vacancy center electron spins in nuclear spin baths
• The temperature shifts of the resonances of the NV- center in diamond
• Detection of a single fundamental charge with nanoscale resolution in ambient conditions using the NV${}^{-}$ center in diamond
• Quantum metrology enhanced by repetitive quantum error correction
• Vertical distribution of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond formed by ion implantation and annealing
• Electrical Tuning of Single Nitrogen-Vacancy Center Optical Transitions Enhanced by Photoinduced Fields
• High-sensitivity, spin-based electrometry with an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond
• Measuring the defect structure orientation of a single NV- centre in diamond
• Ambient Nanoscale Sensing with Single Spins Using Quantum Decoherence
• Nanoscale Sensing Using Point Defects in Single-Crystal Diamond: Recent Progress on Nitrogen Vacancy Center-Based Sensors
• Electrical control of deep NV centers in diamond by means of sub-superficial graphitic micro-electrodes
• Pulsed photoelectric coherent manipulation and detection of NV centre spins in diamond
• Direct measurement and modelling of internal strains in ion-implanted diamond
• Softening the ultra-stiff: controlled variation of Young's modulus in single crystal diamond
• Focused ion beam fabrication and IBIC characterization of a diamond detector with buried electrodes
• Electrical stimulation of single-photon emission from nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond with sub-superficial graphitic electrodes
• Realization of a diamond based high density multi electrode array by means of deep ion beam lithography
• Development and characterization of a diamond-insulated graphitic multi electrode array realized with ion beam lithography
• Description of radiation damage in diamond sensors using an effective defect model

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Electrical and optical control of single spins integrated in scalable semiconductor devices
• Imaging the local charge environment of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond
• Practical applications of quantum sensing: a simple method to enhance sensitivity of Nitrogen-Vacancy-based temperature sensors
• Vector Electrometry in a Wide-Gap Semiconductor Device Using a Spin Ensemble Quantum Sensor
• Theoretical Investigation of Charge Transfer Between Two Defects in a Wide-Bandgap Semiconductor
• Efficient fabrication of high-density ensembles of color centers via ion implantation on a hot diamond substrate
• A comprehensive study of the effect of thermally induced surface terminations on nanodiamonds electrical properties
• 4H-SiC Schottky diode radiation hardness assessment by IBIC microscopy