Hydrogen and oxygen chemistry and dynamics in diamond studied by nuclear microscopic techniques

Abstract Hydrogen and oxygen play a significant role in the growth of diamond chemical vapour deposition (CVD), and also influence its electrical, optical and structural properties. Using the microERDA technique, trapping and diffusion of hydrogen in a range of different types of natural and synthetic diamond have been investigated under different conditions such as high dose hydrogen implants after creation of vacancies and plasma loading of hydrogen. Recently, these have been extended to include natural p-type semiconducting diamond. Resonance RBS and forward scattering in channelling transmission mode with thin diamond single crystals have been used to determine the concentration and lattice site occupancy of surface oxygen.