An analytical expression for the evaluation of leakage current in the integrated gated-diode electrometer

The integrated gated-diode electrometer microelectronic test structure permits automated measurement of leakage currents in p-n junctions. The test method incorporates on-chip signal processing using an electrometer amplifier. An analysis of the equivalent circuit, which includes the effects of loading by the electrometer, yields the working equations required for the interpretation of the measurements and the determination of the generation lifetime and surface-recombination velocity. In certain situations, the generation lifetime can be determined independently of the diode area, allowing the device size to be scaled down without sacrificing the signal amplitude.