Abstract
The electronic properties of insulators such as diamond are of interest not only for their passive dielectric capabilities for use in electronic devices1, but also for their strong electron confinement2 on atomic scales. However, the inherent lack of electrical conductivity in insulators usually prevents the investigation of their surfaces by atomic-scale characterization techniques such as scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). And although atomic force microscopy could in principle be used, imaging diamond surfaces has not yet been possible. Here, we demonstrate that STM can be used in an unconventional resonant electron injection mode to image insulating diamond surfaces and to probe their electronic properties at the atomic scale. Our results reveal striking electronic features in high-purity diamond single crystals, such as the existence of one-dimensional fully delocalized electronic states and a very long diffusion length for conduction-band electrons. We expect that our method can be applied to investigate the electronic properties of other insulating materials and so help in the design of atomic-scale electronic devices.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Strahberger, C. & Vogl, P. Model of room-temperature resonant-tunneling current in metal/insulator and insulator/insulator heterostructures. Phys. Rev. B 62, 7289–7296 (2000).
Kohn, W. Theory of the insulating state. Phys. Rev. A 133, 171–181 (1964).
Thoms, B. D., Owens, M. S. & Butler, J. E. Production and characterization of smooth, hydrogen-terminated diamond C(100). Appl. Phys. Lett. 65, 2957–2959 (1994).
Bobrov, K., Schechter, Folman, M. & Hoffman, A. Deuterium adsorption-desorption from diamond (100) single crystal surfaces studied by TPD. Diamond Related Mater. 7, 170–176 (1998).
Nutzenadel, C. et al. STM investigations with atomic resolution on the (2 × 1) monohydride natural doped diamond (100) surface. Surf. Sci. 369, L111–L116 (1996).
Maier, F., Riedel, M., Mantel, B., Ristein, J. & Ley, L. Origin of surface conductivity in diamond. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 3472–3475 (2000).
Graupner, R. et al. Dispersion of surface states on diamond (100) and (111). Phys. Rev. B 55, 10841–10847 (1997).
Furtmuller, J., Hafner, J. & Kresse, G. Dimer reconstruction and electronic surface states on clean and hydrogenated diamond (100) surfaces. Phys. Rev. B 53, 7334–7351 (1996).
Diederich, L., Kuttel, O. M., Aebi, P. & Schlapbach, L. Electron affinity and work function of differently oriented and doped diamond surfaces determined by photoelectron spectroscopy. Surf. Sci. 418, 219–239 (1998).
Becker, R. S., Golovchenko, J. A. & Swartzentruber, B. S. Electron interferometry at crystal surfaces. Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 987–990 (1985).
Binnig, G. et al. Tunneling spectroscopy and inverse photoemission: image and field states. Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 991–994 (1985).
Caamano, A. J. et al. Field emission interferometry with the scanning tunneling microscope. Surf. Sci. 426, L420–L425 (1999).
Kubby, J. A., Wang, Y. R. & Greene, W. J. Fabry-Perot transmission resonances in tunneling spectroscopy. Phys. Rev. B 43, 9346–9349 (1991).
Viernow, J. et al. Chemical imaging of insulators by STM. Phys. Rev. B 59, 10356–10360 (1999).
Libuda, J. et al. Structure and defects of an ordered alumina film on NiAl(110). Surf. Sci. 318, 61–73 (1994).
Radny, M. Electronic surface states within a new phase-shift multiple-scattering Green function approach. J. Phys. C 3, 5525–5541 (1991).
Höfer, U. et al. Time resolved coherent photoelectron spectroscopy of quantized electronic states on metal surfaces. Science 277, 1480–1482 (1997).
Silkin, V. M., Chulkov, E. V. & Echenique, P. M. Unusual dispersion of image potential states on the Be(1010) surface. Phys. Rev. B 60, 7820–7823 (1999).
Ristein, J., Stein, W. & Ley, L. Defect spectroscopy and determination of the electron diffusion length in single crystal diamond by total photoelectron yield spectroscopy. Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1803–1806 (1997).
Acknowledgements
We thank P. Bergonzo and A. Hoffman for providing facilities to hydrogenate the diamond samples. This work is supported by the AFIRST programme, the European TMR network “Manipulation of individual atoms and molecules”, and the European IST-FET “Bottom-up-Nanomachines”, (BUN) programme.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bobrov, K., Mayne, A. & Dujardin, G. Atomic-scale imaging of insulating diamond through resonant electron injection. Nature 413, 616–619 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35098053
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35098053
This article is cited by
-
Structure search of two-dimensional systems using CALYPSO methodology
Frontiers of Physics (2022)
-
Self-assembled ultrathin nanotubes on diamond (100) surface
Nature Communications (2014)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.