Semiconductor defect characterization in the Scanning Electron Microscope

摘要

Defects in semiconductors usually act as sites of increased recombination and thus have a strong influence on the performance of microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Among the variety of other techniques, both, the EBIC [ electron beam induced current ] as well as the CL [ cathodoluminescence ] have been proven to be powerful tools to localize the defects and characterize their electronic properties. In this paper these Scanning Electron Microscopy [ SEM ] are treated as quantitative research tools for defect investigation. Based on a review of the of the fundamental theoretical background for the quantitative analysis of the recombination properties the experimental requirements for a dedicated SEM are described. To demonstrate the capabilities of these techniques the investigation of gettering effects of dislocations in GaAs and the analysis of statistically distributed point-like defects in silicon arc presented.