Intrinsic granularity in nanocrystalline boron-doped diamond films measured by scanning tunneling microscopy

Willems, B. L., Dao-, V. H., Vanacken, J., Chibotaru, L. F., Moshchalkov, V. V., Guillamón, I., Suderow, H., Vieira, S., Janssens, S. D., Williams, Oliver Aneurin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7210-3004, Haenen, K. and Wagner, P. 2009. Intrinsic granularity in nanocrystalline boron-doped diamond films measured by scanning tunneling microscopy. Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics 80 (22) , 224518. 10.1103/PhysRevB.80.224518

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Abstract

We report on low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy experiments performed on superconducting boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) thin films prepared by chemical-vapor deposition methods. The most representative sample reveals the observed superconducting gap (Δ) highly modulated over a length scale on the order of ∼30 nm, which is much shorter than the typical diamond grain size. The sample local and macroscopic behavior favors for the Δ modulation as being an intrinsic property of the NCD granules. On the other hand, Δ shows its temperature dependence [Δ(T)] consistent with the results obtained by Fominov and Feigel’man Phys. Rev. B 63 094518 (2001)], who studied theoretically the behavior of the superconducting gap of a BCS superconductor in contact with a normal layer by solving the one-dimensional Usadel equations on the superconducting side of the superconducting to normal interface.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Additional Information:	8 pp.
Publisher:	American Physical Society
ISSN:	1098-0121
Last Modified:	14 May 2023 20:53
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/18063

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