Surface damages in diamond by Ar/O2 plasma and their effect on the electrical and electrochemical characteristics of boron-doped layers

Epitaxial single crystal and boron-doped diamond layers were exposed to reactive ion etching in Ar/O-2 plasma (rf power of 25 W and self-bias of 100 V); and the electrical, structural, and electrochemical characteristics of the exposed surface were investigated. Angle-resolved x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed a nonuniform layer of amorphous carbon at the exposed surface with an average thickness of approximately 4 nm, as confirmed also by atomic force microscopy profiling of selectively etched areas. On highly boron-doped diamond, the plasma-induced damages resulted also in a nonconductive surface layer. This damaged and insulating surface layer remained resistant to graphite-etching chemicals and to rf oxygen plasma but it was removed completely in microwave hydrogen plasma at 700 degrees C. The surface characteristics after the H-plasma process followed by wet chemical oxidation were restored back to the initial state, as confirmed by XPS. Such "recovery" treatment had been applied to an all-diamond submicrometer electrode array initially patterned by an Ar/O2 plasma etching. The electrochemical characteristics of this electrode array were improved by more than two orders of magnitude, approaching theoretical limit for the given geometrical configuration. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3489986]