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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.

Deep Ion Beam Lithography (DIBL) has been used for the direct writing of buried graphitic regions in monocrystalline diamond with micrometric resolution. Aiming at the development and the characterization of a fully ion-beam-micromachined solid state ionization chamber, a device with interdigitated electrodes was fabricated by using a 1.8 MeV He+ ion microbeam scanning on a homoepitaxial, grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). In order to evaluate the ionizing-radiation-detection performance of the device, charge collection efficiency (CCE) maps were extracted from Ion Beam Induced Charge (IBIC) measurements carried out by probing different arrangements of buried microelectrodes. The analysis of the CCE maps allowed for an exhaustive evaluation of the detector features, in particular the individuation of the different role played by electrons and holes in the formation of the induced charge pulses. Finally, a comparison of the performances of the detector with buried graphitic electrodes with those relevant to conventional metallic surface electrodes evidenced the formation of a dead layer overlying the buried electrodes as a result of the fabrication process., Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures

The control of the charge state of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond is of primary importance for the stabilization of their quantum-optical properties, in applications ranging from quantum sensing to quantum computing. To this purpose, in this work current-injecting micro-electrodes were fabricated in bulk diamond for NV charge state control. Buried (i.e. 3 {\mu}m in depth) graphitic micro-electrodes with spacing of 9 {\mu}m were created in single-crystal diamond substrates by means of a 6 MeV C scanning micro-beam. The high breakdown field of diamond was exploited to electrically control the variation in the relative population of the negative (NV-) and neutral (NV0) charge states of sub-superficial NV centers located in the inter- electrode gap regions, without incurring into current discharges. Photoluminescence spectra acquired from the biased electrodes exhibited an electrically induced increase up to 40% in the NV- population at the expense of the NV0 charge state. The variation in the relative charge state populations showed a linear dependence from the injected current at applied biases smaller than 250 V, and was interpreted as the result of electron trapping at NV sites, consistently with the Space Charge Limited Current interpretation of the abrupt current increase observed at 300 V bias voltage. In correspondence of such trap-filling-induced transition to a high-current regime, a strong electroluminescent emission from the NV0 centers was observed. In the high-current-injection regime, a decrease in the NV- population was observed, in contrast with the results obtained at lower bias voltages. These results disclose new possibilities in the electrical control of the charge state of NV centers located in the diamond bulk, which are characterized by longer spin coherence times., Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures

We report on the fabrication and characterization of a single-crystal diamond device for the electrical stimula- tion of light emission from nitrogen-vacancy (NV0) and other defect-related centers. Pairs of sub-superficial graphitic micro-electrodes embedded in insulating diamond were fabricated by a 6 MeV C3+ micro-beam irra- diation followed by thermal annealing. A photoluminescence (PL) characterization evidenced a low radiation damage concentration in the inter-electrode gap region, which did not significantly affect the PL features domi- nated by NV centers. The operation of the device in electroluminescence (EL) regime was investigated by ap- plying a bias voltage at the graphitic electrodes, resulting in the injection of a high excitation current above a threshold voltage (~300V), which effectively stimulated an intense EL emission from NV0 centers. In addition, we report on the new observation of two additional sharp EL emission lines (at 563 nm and 580 nm) related to interstitial defects formed during MeV ion beam fabrication.

Focused MeV ion beams with micrometric resolution are suitable tools for the direct writing of conductive graphitic channels buried in an insulating diamond bulk. Their effectiveness has been shown for the fabrication of multi-electrode ionizing radiation detectors and cellular biosensors. In this work we investigate such fabrication method for the electrical excitation of color centers in diamond. Differently from optically-stimulated light emission from color centers in diamond, electroluminescence (EL) requires a high current flowing in the diamond subgap states between the electrodes. With this purpose, buried graphitic electrode pairs with a spacing of 10 $\mu$m were fabricated in the bulk of a single-crystal diamond sample using a 6 MeV C microbeam. The electrical characterization of the structure showed a significant current above an effective voltage threshold of 150V, which was interpreted according to the theory of Space Charge Limited Current. The EL imaging allowed to identify the electroluminescent regions and the residual vacancy distribution associated with the fabrication technique. Measurements evidenced bright electroluminescent emission from native neutrally-charged nitrogen-vacancy centers ($NV^0$); the acquired spectra highlighted the absence of EL associated with radiation damage., Comment: This article has been withdrawn due to the inclusion of additional upgrades and modifications, which significantly improve the paper. A new submission will be performed at a later stage

In multi-electrode detectors, the motion of excess carriers generated by ionizing radiation induces charge pulses at the electrodes, whose intensities and polarities depend on the geometrical, electrostatic and carriers transport properties of the device. The resulting charge sharing effects may lead to bipolar currents, pulse height defects and anomalous polarity signals affecting the response of the device to ionizing radiation. This latter effect has recently attracted attention in commonly used detector materials, but different interpretations have been suggested, depending on the material, the geometry of the device and the nature of the ionizing radiation. In this letter, we report on the investigation in the formation of anomalous polarity pulses in a multi-electrode diamond detector with buried graphitic electrodes. In particular, we propose a purely electrostatic model based on the Shockley-Ramo-Gunn theory, providing a satisfactory description of anomalous pulses observed in charge collection efficiency maps measured by means of Ion Beam Induced Charge (IBIC) microscopy, and suitable for a general application in multi-electrode devices and detectors., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures