Review and modeling of charge carrier mobility in diamond


Is-haqzai F. R., DENİZ M., Kroninger K., Weingarten J.

DIAMOND AND RELATED MATERIALS, cilt.164, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Derleme
  • Cilt numarası: 164
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.diamond.2026.113558
  • Dergi Adı: DIAMOND AND RELATED MATERIALS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Compendex, INSPEC
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Single-crystal CVD diamond, Charge carrier mobility, Drift velocity, Mobility models, Transient current technique (TCT), Diamond detectors
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Reported electron and hole mobilities and saturation velocities in diamond vary widely across the literature. We provide a consolidated review of first-principles predicted and experimentally measured mobility and saturation-velocity values in diamond, alongside a focused assessment of the semi-empirical mobility models used to extract low-field mobilities and high-field saturation velocities. We attribute the dispersion primarily to (i) the electric-field window probed in TCT measurements, (ii) the choice of mobility model, and (iii) the excitation source (alpha, laser, or electron). Using an aggregated literature dataset, we benchmark the Trofimenkoff and Caughey-Thomas parameterizations together with a new piecewise model for both conduction-and valence-band transport. For electrons, the piecewise model provides the best global description over a broad electric-field range. It can be interpreted as the room-temperature limit of a more general superposition framework that explicitly incorporates intervalley repopulation in the conduction band. For holes, the Caughey-Thomas model remains the statistically preferred description, consistent with the absence of a repopulation signature in the accessible data. Furthermore, we demonstrate a systematic source dependence (alpha versus laser) and quantify its impact on fitted mobility and saturation-velocity values. We provide temperature scalings over narrow intervals around room temperature to support Jacoboni-Canali-type parameterization for diamond. Together, these results reconcile much of the apparent inconsistency in the literature and offer guidance for model selection, experimental design, and device-level simulation of charge transport in intrinsic diamond.