Chemical vapour deposition diamond. Charge carrier movement at low temperatures and use in time-critical applications

Diamond, a wide band gap semiconductor with exceptional electrical properties, has found its way in diverse fields of application reaching from the usage as a sensor material for beam loss monitors at particle accelerator facilities, over laser windows, to UV light sensors in space applications, e.g. for space weather forecasting. Though often used at room temperature, little is known about the charge transport in diamond towards liquid helium temperatures. In this work the method of the transient current technique is employed at temperatures between room temperature and 2 K. The temperature and electric field strength dependence of the pulse shape, the charge carrier transit time, the drift velocity, the saturation velocity, and the low-field mobility is measured in detector-grade scCVD diamond. Furthermore, the usability of diamond in time-critical applications is tested, and the main results are presented.