a method of doping diamond with relatively large atoms such as aluminium , phosphorus , arsenic and antimony is provided . the method involves implanting the dopant atoms at a low temperature to create a damaged region of point defects in the form of vacancies and interstitial dopant atoms within the crystal lattice of the diamond , and annealing the diamond to reduce the lattice damage and cause dopant interstitial atoms to diffuse into lattice positions . the implantation dose will be low and such as to create density of implanted dopant atoms of no greater than 2 . 5 × 10 18 cm 3 .