Influence of defects on electron emission from diamond films

The correlation between paramagnetic defects and the electron emission in diamond films, which were deposited by the chemical vapor deposition method, has been studied using electron-spin-resonance (ESR) and field-emission measurements. The paramagnetic defects, which are a carbon dangling bond in the diamond layer (P-dia-center: g = 2.003, Delta H-pp = 3 Oe) and a carbon dangling bond in the nondiamond phase carbon region ( P-ac-center: g = 2.003, Delta H-pp = 8 Oe), exist in the diamond films. Electron emission with high current density was observed for the diamond film, which contains high spin densities for both ESR centers, because electrons are efficiently transported to the diamond surface through the defect-induced energy band(s) by hopping conduction. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(98)02723- 6].