Combined electrical resistivity-electron reflectivity measurements for evaluating the homogeneity of hydrogen-terminated diamond surfaces

The homogeneity of hydrogen termination on single-crystal CVD diamond surfaces exposed to air was studied with a new approach that encloses a combination of sheet resistance measurements, performed using four-point-probe method in Van Der Pauw configuration, and electron reflectivity measurements performed at intermediate kinetic energy to derive surface sensitive information on the chemical terminations (inelastic mean free path <0.8 nm). The coherence between the 2-dimensional spatial distributions of sheet resistance and electron reflectivity maps, as well as their similar dynamic range and consistency with an electron energy loss analysis, demonstrates that the proposed combined approach allows for a reliable and easy evaluation of both the effectiveness and homogeneity of the hydrogen-termination process of a diamond surface.