Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) diamond detectors were modelled for dosimetry of radiotherapy beams. This was achieved by employing the EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) method to investigate certain properties of the detector, such as size, shape and electrode materials. Simulations were carried out for a broad 6 MV photon beam, and water phantoms with both uniform and non-uniform voxel dimensions. A number of critical MC parameters were investigated for the development of a model that can simulate very small voxels. For a given number of histories (100 million), combinations of the following parameters were analyzed: cross section data, boundary crossing algorithm and the HOWFARLESS option, with the rest of the transport parameters being kept at default values. The MC model obtained with the optimized parameters was successfully validated against published data for a 1.25 MeV photon beam and CVD diamond detector with silver/carbon/silver structure with thicknesses of 0.07/0.2/0.07 cm for the electrode/detector/electrode, respectively. The interface phenomena were investigated for a 6 MV beam by simulating different electrode materials: aluminium, silver, copper and gold for perpendicular and parallel detector orientation with regards to the beam. The smallest interface phenomena were observed for parallel detector orientation with electrodes made of the lowest atomic number material, which was aluminium. The simulated percentage depth dose and beam profiles were compared with experimental data. The best agreement between simulation and measurement was achieved for the detector in parallel orientation and aluminium electrodes, with differences of approximately 1%. In summary, investigations related to the CVD diamond detector modelling revealed that the EGSnrc MC code is suitable for simulation of small size detectors. The simulation results are in good agreement with experimental data and the model can now be used to assist with the design and construction of prototype diamond detectors for clinical dosimetry. Future work will include investigating the detector response for different energies, small field sizes, different orientations other than perpendicular and parallel to the beam, and the influence of each electrode on the absorbed dose.

Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) diamond detectors were modelled for dosimetry of radiotherapy beams. This was achieved by employing the EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) method to investigate certain properties of the detector, such as size, shape and electrode materials. Simulations were carried out for a broad 6 MV photon beam, and water phantoms with both uniform and non-uniform voxel dimensions. A number of critical MC parameters were investigated for the development of a model that can simulate very small voxels. For a given number of histories (100 million), combinations of the following parameters were analyzed: cross section data, boundary crossing algorithm and the HOWFARLESS option, with the rest of the transport parameters being kept at default values. The MC model obtained with the optimized parameters was successfully validated against published data for a 1.25 MeV photon beam and CVD diamond detector with silver/carbon/silver structure with thicknesses of 0.07/0.2/0.07 cm for the electrode/detector/electrode, respectively. The interface phenomena were investigated for a 6 MV beam by simulating different electrode materials: aluminium, silver, copper and gold for perpendicular and parallel detector orientation with regards to the beam. The smallest interface phenomena were observed for parallel detector orientation with electrodes made of the lowest atomic number material, which was aluminium. The simulated percentage depth dose and beam profiles were compared with experimental data. The best agreement between simulation and measurement was achieved for the detector in parallel orientation and aluminium electrodes, with differences of approximately 1%. In summary, investigations related to the CVD diamond detector modelling revealed that the EGSnrc MC code is suitable for simulation of small size detectors. The simulation results are in good agreement with experimental data and the model can now be used to assist with the design and construction of prototype diamond detectors for clinical dosimetry. Future work will include investigating the detector response for different energies, small field sizes, different orientations other than perpendicular and parallel to the beam, and the influence of each electrode on the absorbed dose.

Im Hinblick auf das immense Potential von Diamant als Material für die Mikroelektronik wurden im Rahmen dieser Arbeit undotierte und dotierte Diamantfilme mittels chemischer Gasphasenabscheidung auf Silizium präpariert und anschließend auf ihre elektronischen Eigenschaften hin untersucht. Für Letzteres wurde hauptsächlich die Elektronen-Energieverlustspektroskopie in Transmission verwendet. In situ Gasphasendotierung oder Ionenimplantation wurde zur Dotierung der Filme mit Bor, Lithium oder Phosphor eingesetzt. Bei der Ionenimplantation wurde aufgrund der Erzeugung von Strahlenschäden generell eine Erhöhung des sp2-Anteils beobachtet: Letzterer konnte jedoch im Falle der Bordotierung durch eine, den Implantationsprozeß folgende, Hochtemperaturtemperung wieder deutlich vermindert werden. Für die in situ Dotierung mit Bor wurde eine Verringerung des sp2-Gehaltes mit steigender Dotierkonzentration gefunden. Für den Film mit der höchsten Borkonzentration konnte auch die B1s Absorptionskante untersucht werden. Sie gibt Hinweise auf den überwiegenden Einbau der Boratome in einer tetragonalen Orientierung. Das hiermit verbundene Vorhandensein von Akzeptoren führt zu elektronischen Anregungen im Energiebereich der Bandlücke, welche mittels Infrarotspektroskopie und EELS nachgewiesen werden konnten. Aus den EELS Messungen lassen sich Akzeptorkonzentrationen berechnen, welche wiederum den hohen Anteil an tetraedrisch eingebauten Boratomen bestätigen. Desweiteren untersucht wurden, als interessante Materialklasse mit weitreichendem technologischem Potential, undotierte und stickstoffdotierte, diamantartige amorphe Kohlenstoffilme und hierbei insbesondere die Abhängigkeit der elektronischen und optischen Eigenschaften von der Ionenenergie und dem Stickstoffpartialdruck während der Filmpräparation. Die Plasmonenergien, Massendichten, sp3-Anteile und die optischen Bandlücken der Filme wurden quantitativ bestimmt, wobei das jeweilige Maximum bei einer Ionenenergie von 100 eV gefunden wurde. Alle eben genannten Größen verringern sich kontinuierlich mit zunehmendem Stickstoffanteil. Eine Kramers-Kronig Analyse der Verlustspektren gibt Zugriff auf den Real- und Imaginärteil der dielektrischen Funktion und damit auf das Spektrum der Einteilchenanregungen. Die Hybridisierung der Kohlenstoff- und der Stickstoffatome wurde detailliert aus den jeweiligen 1s Absorptionskanten bestimmt. Weiterhin wurde Diamant als Modellsystem eines Festkörpers mit rein kovalenten Bindungen untersucht, insbesondere die Verlustfunktion von Diamant entlang mehrerer Hochsymmetriekristallrichtungen über einen großen Energie- und Impulsbereich. Aus den EELS Messungen erschließt sich unmittelbar die stark anisotrope Plasmonendispersion von Diamant. Aus dem Vergleich der experimentellen Spektren mit ab initio LDA Rechnungen, die sowohl Kristallokalfeldeffekte als auch Austausch- und Korrelationseffekte beinhalten, lassen sich direkt Rückschlüsse auf den Einfluß der verschiedenen Effekte ziehen. Schon im optischen Limit, aber umso mehr mit steigendem Impulsübertrag q, wird eine Überlagerung der kollektiven Plasmonanregung mit Einteilchenanregungen im Energiebereich des Plasmons beobachtet, woraus eine Kopplung zwischen beiden Arten von Anregungen resultiert. Abgesehen vom deutlichen Einfluß der Bandstruktur auf die Plasmonendispersion läßt die überaus inhomogene Elektronenverteilung von Diamant auf nicht zuvernachlässigende Kristallokalfeldeffekte schließen. Der Vergleich zwischen experimentellen und berechneten Spektren zeigt deutlich, wie die Kristallokalfeldeffekte in der Tat mit steigendem Impulsübertrag an Gewicht zunehmen und die Struktur der Verlustfunktion mitbestimmen. / In the context of the immense potential of diamond as a material for use in the microelectronics industry, in this thesis pristine and doped diamond films have been deposited on silicon using chemical vapour deposition. Subsequently their electronic properties have been investigated using mainly electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Doping of the films with boron, lithium or phosphorous was carried out either via in-situ gas phase doping during film growth or using ion implantation. Upon ion implantation an increase of the carbon content with sp2 hybridisation has generally been found due to ion beam induced damage. In the case of boron doping it was possible to significantly reduce this sp2-contribution using a high temperature anneal. For the in-situ doping with boron, upon increasing doping concentration a decrease of the sp2-contribution was found. For the sample with the highest boron content the boron 1s absorption edge could also be investigated, providing evidence for the preferential incorporation of the boron atoms into tetrahedrally co-ordinated sites. This boron incorporation leads to the existence of electronic excitations in the energy range of the band gap, which could be observed using both infrared and electron energy-loss spectroscopy. From the electron energy-loss measurements it was possible to calculate acceptor concentrations which were consistent with the large amount of tetrahedrally co-ordinated boron atoms. A second theme in this thesis involved the study of pristine and nitrogen doped diamond-like amorphous carbon films, which are an interesting material class with far-reaching technological potential. Here the focus of the research concerned the dependency of the electronic and optical properties of the films upon the ion energy and the nitrogen partial pressure applied during the film preparation. The plasmon energies, mass densities, sp3 contribution and the optical band gaps of the samples were determined quantitatively, whereby the maximum in all these quantities was found to occur for ion energies of 100 eV. Furthermore, all of these characteristics were found to decrease continually with increasing nitrogen content. A Kramers-Kronig analysis of the loss spectra enabled the derivation of the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function and with this of the complete spectrum of single particle excitations. The hybridization between the carbon and nitrogen atoms was also studied in detail from the analysis of the respective 1s absorption edges. Furthermore this thesis deals with the investigation of diamond as a model system for solids with pure covalent bonds. In particular, the loss function of diamond was measured along different high symmetry directions over a wide range of energy and momentum. Firstly, the EELS measurements showed directly the strongly anisotropic nature of the plasmon dispersion in diamond. Secondly, by the comparison of the experimental spectra with ab initio LDA-based calculations that include crystal local field effects as well as exchange and correlation contributions, conclusions can be drawn as to the influence of these quantities. In the optical limit, but even more so with increasing momentum transfer q, a superposition of the collective plasmon excitation and the single particle excitations in the energy range of the plasmon is observed. This energetic proximity results in a coupling between both types of excitations. Apart from the distinct influence of the bandstructure on the plasmon dispersion, the considerably inhomogeneous electron distribution of diamond would lead one to expect significant crystal local field effects in this system. The comparison between the experimental and the calculated spectra shows explicitly that the crystal local field effects increase with increasing momentum transfer and play an important role in defining the structure of the loss function.