Electrochemical doping in H-terminated diamond films: Impact of O-functionalization and insights from in-situ Raman spectro electrochemistry

TL;DR

This study investigates how partial O-termination affects the electrochemical and electronic properties of H-terminated diamond films in EGFET devices, revealing changes in conductivity, device performance, and phonon behavior.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the impact of O-functionalization on H-terminated diamond surfaces and their electrochemical gating characteristics using in-situ Raman spectroscopy.

Findings

Partial O-termination increases sheet resistance and decreases hole density.

Device ON-OFF ratio and transconductance decrease with O-termination.

In-situ Raman shows gating-induced blue shift and broadening of the diamond Raman band.

Abstract

The p-type surface conductivity of H-terminated diamond (HD, H-diamond) has created new path ways for developing diamond based electronic devices as well as chemical and bio-sensors. However, the hydrophobic nature of the HD surface can negatively impact device performance due to its low wettability. Herein, we report the study on polymer electrolyte-gated field effect transistors (EGFETs) fabricated using pristine and partially O-terminated HD films. The HD surface is transformed from hydrophobic to moderate hydrophilic by partial O-termination. Also, the sheet resistance of the HD surface increases from 7.6 to 18.7 k-Ohms per sq. while the sheet hole density decreases from 10.5 to 4.8 x 10^12 cm^-2 upon partial O-termination. Consequently, the ON - OFF ratio of the EGFET devices decreases from ~ 40 to 14 and the maximum transconductance declines from of -150 to -7.9 micro-seimens per V, but the areal capacitance increases from ~ 7.8 to 27.1 microFarad per cm^2 with partial ozonation on HD surface. In addition the in situ Raman measurements in HD EGFET provide direct experimental evidence of a gating-induced blue shift and linewidth broadening of the diamond Raman band which are associated with strong electron phonon coupling. This work highlights the significant impact of the partial O-termination on the performance of the HD EGFET devices and effect of electrochemical gating on the phonon behaviour of the H-diamond.