A compact microcomputer-based deep level transient spectroscopy measurement system

A specifically designed system for deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurement is described. It is compact and fully automated, can measure all the spectra in just one temperature scan, and permits simultaneous analysis of two devices. The user sets up the measurement conditions with a reduced number of commands. This makes the system very flexible and versatile. A self-scaled gain output amplifier has been incorporated to provide the maximum DLTS signal amplitude compatible with the input range of the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. This self-scaling allows the detection of traps with a large amplitude range. Up to 90 sampling times can be selected for each transient. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), as many as 32768 scans may be accumulated for averaging. Improvements as high as 45 dB have been used to characterize deep centers in AlGaAs/GaAs devices grown by liquid-phase and molecular-beam epitaxies