Minority-carrier lifetime and surface recombination velocity measurement by frequency-domain photoluminescence

Author

Wang, Chih Hsin ; Neugroschel, Arnost

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Florida Univ., Gainesville, FL, USA

Volume

38

Issue

9

fYear

1991

fDate

9/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2169

Lastpage

2180

Abstract

A novel nondestructive and contactless experimental method for measurement of the minority-carrier lifetime τ and surface recombination velocity S is presented. The method is based on the analysis of the photoluminescence (PL) time decay after laser excitation. The PL decay is analyzed in the frequency domain, which allows accurate extraction of both τ and S independently from the same measurement. Closed-form analytical solutions are derived for the PL signal in the frequency domain. The novel technique is able to measure accurately subnanosecond lifetimes. It can also measure S on heavily doped semiconductors. The method, frequency-domain photoluminescence (FDPL), is demonstrated in Si, GaAs, and InP materials

Keywords

carrier lifetime; electron-hole recombination; heavily doped semiconductors; measurement by laser beam; minority carriers; nondestructive testing; photoluminescence; semiconductor device testing; semiconductor technology; GaAs; InP; Si; contactless experimental method; frequency domain; frequency-domain photoluminescence; heavily doped semiconductors; laser excitation; measurement; minority-carrier lifetime; nondestructive method; subnanosecond lifetimes; surface recombination velocity; Frequency domain analysis; Frequency measurement; Gallium arsenide; Indium phosphide; Laser excitation; Photoluminescence; Radiative recombination; Semiconductor materials; Signal analysis; Velocity measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.83745

Filename

83745