Hydrogen-boron interactions in $p$-type diamond

We report on experimental evidence of hydrogen-boron interactions in boron-doped diamond from hydrogen diffusion investigations. Original deuterium diffusion studies in homoepitaxial B-doped diamond films reveal that hydrogen diffusion is limited by the B concentration with a low effective diffusion activation energy. These results are consistent with hydrogen ionization and diffusion of fairly mobile $H^{+}$ that form pairs with $B^{-}.$ Infrared spectroscopy experiments show that boron acceptor electronic transitions are removed under hydrogenation.