Insulator-Metal Transition of Intrinsic Diamond

摘要

Diamond is a well-known gemstone,but also famous among scientists for its combination of exceptional properties.Due to the indirect optical band gap of 5.47 eV,it belongs to the group of"narrow band gap insulators"and"wide band gap semiconductors".Thus,diamond can be a perfect insulator or a semiconductor by use of boron(p-type)or phosphorus(n-type)doping.Its superior electronic properties,including breakdown voltage,carrier mobilities,dielectric constant,and radiation hardness,have triggered many research activities on device applications.Chemical vapor deposition(CVD)techniques using hot filament or plasma excitation have optimized the growth condition of synthetic diamond during recent years to a level which allows the controlled deposition of electronic grade quality with atomically flat surfaces.