The Current Voltage Characteristics of Electron Beam Controlled Thin Film Diamond Switches

The dark current of natural diamond thin films and the induced current due to electron-beam irradiation was measured up to a range of 7000Ncm'. The contact material was aluminum, annealed and unannealed. Switching experiments were performed with electron energies ranging from 70keV to 172keV. The switching results obtained are strongly dependent on the biasing polarity, incident electron energy, and whether the contact is blocking or Ohmic in nature. A simple model which takes traps into consideration allows us to explain the various switching responses. The range of electrons which define, in part, the switch mode was measured for one sample thickness and compared with results of Monte Carlo calculations. The overall results show that diamond switches can be operated in a linear mode with current gains up to 2x104 or in a lock-on mode with high trigger sensitivity.