Ion micro-beams are very efficient probes to characterise wide gap semiconductors. Ion beam induced charge (IBIC) technique has been extensively used to investigate the transport properties of diamond samples. Due to its scintillating nature, diamond is also suitable to be characterised by ionoluminescence. Similar to cathodoluminescence, this technique can be employed as a sensitive method to map radiative recombination centres. Thus, a combination of IBIC and IBIL (Ion Beam Induced Luminescence) in a nuclear microprobe represents a powerful analytical tool to get complementary information on the electronic properties of diamond.

In this work we explore the combined use of IBIL and IBIC as a tool to characterise the electronic and scintillating properties of "detector grade" CVD diamond samples. IBIC maps show typical columnar structures easily referable to the crystal morphology, whereas IBIL maps put in evidence regions where radiative recombination occurs. Furthermore, IBIC and IBIL maps are almost complementary even if care has to be taken in comparison because of the evolving aspect of the IBIC maps as a function of the absorption dose.