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Abstract: Recently, superconductivity has been found in heavily boron-doped diamond prepared by high temperature/high pressure synthesis or chemical vapour deposition. An alternative doping method of technological relevance is ion implantation. It is an open question whether superconductivity can also be obtained in boron-implanted diamond. Here we report on the transport and magnetic properties of high dose (2.3×1016–1.7×1017 cm−2) boron-implanted natural IIa diamond samples doped at elevated temperature of 900 °C and subsequently annealed at 1500 °C and 1700 °C. For comparison implantation at room temperature was also carried out. The samples were further characterized by Raman and infrared spectroscopy. No superconductivity could be detected in the samples at temperatures down to 40 mK. We discuss the possible origin for the absence of superconductivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cubic SiC is implanted with carbon ions at 600, 900, 1100 and 1200 °C. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy revealed the influence of implantation temperature and dose rate on the formation of graphite and diamond precipitates, respectively. The high dose carbon implantation at 600 °C yields graphite already in a textured form. Spherical diamond grains, which are always epitaxial to the SiC, are found in samples implanted at 900 °C or higher. Increasing the dose rate leads to formation of graphite instead of diamond at 900 °C as well. Hence, a critical temperature for diamond evolution exists, which depends on dose rate. Size and shape of the formed diamond precipitates is not influenced by dose rate within the investigated range. Increasing the fluence results in bigger diamond nanocrystals, which are bordered by facets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nanocrystals of silicon carbide were synthesized inside natural diamond using high dose silicon implantation. In order to retain the diamond structure implantation was done at 900 °C. The samples were subsequently annealed in an rf-heated furnace at 1500 °C for 10 min. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), IR absorption spectrometry and high-resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) are used to investigate formation and structure of SiC nanocrystallites in the implanted diamond. Raman spectroscopy contributed to trace implantation-induced destruction of the diamond. A first characterization of the electrical properties of the implanted and annealed samples is done by four-point probe measurements. The results indicate a highly conductive, buried layer inside the diamond. This layer contains cubic SiC nanocrystals, which are perfectly aligned with the diamond lattice. However, when fluence exceeds a critical value of 5.3×1017 Si+ cm−2, the diamond is irreversibly damaged and defect conduction type dominates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Ion-beam-induced crystallization was used to transform amorphized, heavily Al doped SiC layers to nanocrystalline material. The morphology of the as-implanted and the annealed layers was studied by XTEM. The electrical properties were analyzed by sheet resistance and Hall measurements and compared with crystalline reference samples. A high-temperature annealing step is necessary to activate the implanted Al acceptor atoms. During annealing the mean grain size of the nanocrystals grow from 3 to 35 nm. The Al doped, nanocrystalline SiC has a much lower sheet resistance than the crystalline reference samples. It was found that this is due to the enhanced hole concentration which could be explained by a higher solid solubility of Al in the nanocrystalline SiC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Single crystalline diamond samples of type IIa were implanted with boron and CVD diamond samples with fluorine or iron ions. Defect rich surface layers extending to a depth of about 300 nm for boron and 1 μm for fluorine and iron were produced by multiple energy implantation. The ion concentrations at the implanted regions were between 30 and 600 ppm for iron and fluorine and 0.5 to 1.5 at.% for boron. In all samples the magnetic properties were dominated by the diamagnetism of pure diamond. The main influence of iron and fluorine implantation on the magnetic properties of diamond is the creation of paramagnetic centres induced by disorder. Whereas diamond implanted with boron at a temperature of 900 °C does not show detectable paramagnetism. After subtraction of the linear background all implanted samples show small ferromagnetic-like loops. Although these signals are clearly above the detection limit and appear to be caused by ferromagnetism, we show that the measured loops are mainly caused by a SQUID artefact. We did not find any evidence for the existence of superconductivity in boron-doped diamond samples prepared under the used conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nanometer-sized SiC precipitates were synthesized at 450 °C in Si by simultaneous dual beam implantation of C+ and Si+ ions and subsequent annealing. The results are compared with those of sequential dual beam implantation and of single beam implantation. Two types of SiC precipitates were found. Precipitates of type I with a diameter of d=4–5 nm consist of 3C-SiC epitaxially oriented with the Si matrix. They were formed already in the as-implanted state and do not grow further during subsequent annealing. The SiC precipitates of type II with d≈10 nm are not oriented with the Si matrix and grow exclusively during the subsequent annealing. The high growth velocity, the misorientation in regard to the Si matrix and the lower concentration of type II precipitates can be explained by the assumption that these precipitates were formed in an amorphous substrate which modifies their interface energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]