Determination of Minority Carrier Lifetime of Holes in Diamond p-i-n Diodes Using Reverse Recovery Method

The extracted minority carrier lifetime in the n-layer of a diamond p-i-n diode on (111)- oriented diamond is presented here using the diode reverse recovery method. The storage time delay and the reverse current varied as a function of the ramp time for the applied signal. The storage time delay and reverse current was extracted for zero ramp time by considering a capacitive overshoot effect that can occur during the measurement. The minority carrier lifetime of holes was measured to be ~6 ns. The results obtained were compared to p-i-n diodes on (100)- where the n-side was fully depleted. The storage time delay was found to be negligible in the (100)- case. Further, time resolved cathodoluminescence measurements support the lifetime results obtained from the reverse recovery method.