Characterisation of oxidation techniques on wide bandgap semiconductor surfaces

This work discusses the relevance of the oxidation procedure on wide-band gap semiconductors and the effect that has on the surface chemistry. It has been shown that acid treatment procedures produce an incomplete termination resulting in a reduction in thermal stability. Pure oxygen anneals have been conducted on diamond surfaces and measured using Photoelectron Spectroscopy(PES) techniques in-situ at near ambient pressures and have shown that 400°C is an optimum temperature for the removal of sp2 carbon and achieving a complete oxygen coverage of the surface. The effect of surface termination of Detonation Nanodiamonds (DNDs) and single crystal diamonds have been studied experimentally and theoretically using PES and Density Functional Theory to determine the most stabilised terminations for device applications and drug adsorption. These have then been measured experimentally and molecule coverage has been characterised using optical scattering and absorption techniques.