Direct observation of surface potential change due to hydrogen termination of CVD diamond surface by metastable-induced electron spectroscopy

Metastable-induced electron spectroscopy (MIES) together with ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) was applied to the analysis of the surface electronic structure of chemical-vapor-deposited diamond films. The films were grown in a microwave plasma, and their surfaces were terminated by hydrogen. The MIES spectrum measured at an as-deposited surface contains peaks due to adsorbates. When this surface was annealed at 400 °C, those peaks were depressed, and the spectrum showed a similar structure to that of UPS. Once the surface was re-hydrogenated, the MIES spectrum rose up at lower energies than the UPS spectrum did for surfaces annealed at lower temperatures. Finally after annealing at 1000 °C, the cutoff energies of MIES and UPS converged at nearly the same values. The result demonstrates that the MIES detects a surface potential which changes locally at the hydrogen-terminated surfaces.