DIELECTRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF SEMICONDUCTORS

The measurement of delayed electronic transitions in semiconductors by the technique of Dielectric Spectroscopy of Semiconductors (DSS) constitutes an effective means of characterising materials. The advantage of DSS in comparison with other static techniques consists in the availability of a large range of times or frequencies-typically several decades-which characterise the rate processes prevailing in the materials under study and thus reveal features which may not be accessible by more commonly used static techniques. The results give information about the energy depth of localised levels, about the nature of the various transition rates and also about the interactions between the localised carriers and the lattice, which are not easily measured by other techniques. They are relevant to the assessment of p-n junctions and also of the interfacial layers in Schottky barriers. © 1990.