Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy of free and bound excitons in chemical-vapor-deposited diamond

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Abstract
Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy was used to study exciton recombination at temperatures from 80 to 280 K in undoped and boron-doped diamond particles grown by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition. Spectral lines due to free and bound excitons were observed in the near-band-gap region, 4.6–5.5 eV. (The band gap of diamond is at 5.49 eV.) In the undoped particles, free-exciton lines were observed at 5.27 and 5.12 eV. Another set of lines, not previously reported, was observed between 4.7 and 5.0 eV, with the most intense lines at 4.757, 4.832, and 4.950 eV. The latter set of lines is attributed to excitons bound to lattice defects, possibly dislocations. In the boron-doped particles, excitons bound to boron acceptors were found to dominate the near-band-gap CL spectrum at low temperature. The most intense acceptor-bound-exciton line is at 5.20 eV. In both boron-doped and undoped particles, the exciton lines were much less intense in {111} crystal-growth sectors than in {100} sectors. Quenching of the exciton luminescence due to nonradiative recombination is believed to be the cause of the reduced intensity in the {111} sectors. The temperature dependence of the intensities, peak positions, and peak widths of the exciton lines was examined. The free and acceptor-bound excitons in the boron-doped particles were found to be in thermal equilibrium with each other. In the undoped particles, the free and defect-bound excitons were not in thermal equilibrium; the higher-energy bound-exciton lines (at 4.832 and 4.950 eV) decreased more rapidly with increasing temperature than either the lowest-energy bound-exciton line (at 4.757 eV) or the free-exciton lines.