Surface stability and electronic structure of hydrogen- and fluorine-terminated diamond surfaces: A first-principles investigation

The effect of fluorine termination on the stability and bonding structure of diamond (111) surfaces were studied using first-principles calculations and compared with hydrogen termination by creating mixed F- and H-containing diamond surfaces. Surface F atoms, similar to H, formed sp³-type bonding with C atoms, which resulted in a more stable 1 × 1 configuration. The surface phase diagram built showed that the F-terminated surface was more stable in a larger-phase space than H termination, because of the formation of strong ionic C–F bonds and the development of attractive forces between F atoms, resulting in close packing of large F atoms. Hence, the F-terminated diamond surface was more chemically inert. A large repulsive force was required to bring two F-terminated surfaces together, because of the negative charge on F atoms, resulting in reduced adhesion tendency between two F-terminated diamond surfaces compared with H-terminated surfaces.