Probing metastable space-charge potentials in a wide bandgap semiconductor

Abstract

While the study of space charge potentials has a long history, present models are largely based on the notion of steady state equilibrium, ill-suited to describe wide bandgap semiconductors with moderate to low concentrations of defects. Here we build on color centers in diamond both to locally inject carriers into the crystal and probe their evolution as they propagate in the presence of external and internal potentials. We witness the formation of metastable charge patterns whose shape - and concomitant field - can be engineered through the timing of carrier injection and applied voltages. With the help of previously crafted charge patterns, we unveil a rich interplay between local and extended sources of space charge field, which we then exploit to show space-charge-induced carrier guiding.

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Optical activation and detection of charge transport between individual color centers in room-temperature diamond
• Room-temperature photo-chromism of silicon vacancy centers in CVD diamond
• Fast optoelectronic charge state conversion of silicon vacancies in diamond
• Neutral Silicon Vacancy Centers in Diamond via Photoactivated Itinerant Carriers
• Detection and modeling of hole capture by single point defects under variable electric fields
• Wavelength dependence of nitrogen-vacancy center charge cycling
• Photoinduced charge injection from shallow point defects in diamond into water
• Probing charge dynamics in diamond with an individual color center