Ohmic contacts and interface properties of Au/Ti/p-diamond prepared by r.f. sputtering

The Au/Ti/p‐diamond contacts were prepared by r.f. sputtering and I–V measurements showed that the as‐deposited contacts were ohmic. Upon annealing at 500 °C for 10 min in a vacuum of 10−4 Pa, the ohmic characteristics of the contacts were improved by 30%. The specific contact resistivity, which was calculated by the transmission line model (TLM), decreased from 2.9 × 10−3 to 2.0 × 10−3 Ω·cm2 as a result of post‐deposition annealing. Analysis by XPS indicated the formation of titanium carbide at the Ti/diamond interface in the as‐deposited and annealed states. This gave the contacts their good ohmic characteristics. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.