EBIC defect characterisation: state of understanding and problems of interpretation

Phenomenological modelling of EBIC defect contrast can be sufficiently realised nowadays, with defects assumed as regions of recombination lifetime different from that in the surrounding material. The mechanisms of carrier recombination of the defect sites are still under discussion. Both the charge-controlled recombination model and the Shockley-Read-Hall model allow one to describe experimental defect contrast data recorded as function of temperature or beam injection, respectively, and to yield a kind of spectroscopic information. However, these experimental data seem to be insufficient to provide an unambiguous description of the defects. Among future experiments that might help to overcome the present difficulties, we suggest extraction of complementary information on defect charging and estimation of the extension of the active defect region from the width of the EBIC contrast profile.