A CONTACTLESS MINORITY LIFETIME PROBE OF HETEROSTRUCTURES, SURFACES, INTERFACES AND BULK WAFERS

This paper reviews a contactless laser-pumped minority carrier lifetime probe which is of general utility in solid-state and semiconductor material measurements. This inductively coupled radio frequency probe has been used in a diverse array of measurements. It can study minority carrier properties, for example: epitaxial heterostructure quality comparing different growth methods; wafer substrate quality; interfacial recombination; chemical synthesis of nearly ideal electronic surfaces; and radiative electron-hole recombination. Correspondingly, majority carrier properties may also be probed: sheet conductivity of p-ZnSe layers for which ohmic contacts are unavailable; and band-bending at semiconductor surfaces in darkness and light. Most generally this transient radio frequency bridge is useful for rapid contactless monitoring of semiconductor process development.