Formation of a boron-oxide termination for the (100) diamond surface

A boron-oxide termination of the diamond (100) surface has been formed by depositing molecular boron oxide B_2O_3 onto the hydrogen-terminated (100) diamond surface under ultrahigh vacuum conditions and annealing to 950^∘ C. The resulting termination was highly oriented and chemically homogeneous, although further optimisation is required to increase the surface coverage beyond the 0.4 ML achieved here. This work demonstrates the possibility of using molecular deposition under ultrahigh vacuum conditions for complex surface engineering of the diamond surface, and may be a first step in an alternative approach to fabricating boron doped delta layers in diamond.