{{Use mdy dates, date = March 2019 Semiconductor characterization techniques are used to characterize a

semiconductor material A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. I ...

device A device is usually a constructed tool. Device may also refer to: Technology Computing * Device, a colloquial term encompassing desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. * Device file, an interface of a device driver * Peripheral, any devi ...

( PN junction,

Schottky diode The Schottky diode (named after the German physicist Walter H. Schottky), also known as Schottky barrier diode or hot-carrier diode, is a semiconductor diode formed by the junction of a semiconductor with a metal. It has a low forward voltag ...

, etc.). Some examples of semiconductor properties that could be characterized include the depletion width, carrier concentration,

carrier generation and recombination In the solid-state physics of semiconductors, carrier generation and carrier recombination are processes by which mobile charge carriers (electrons and electron holes) are created and eliminated. Carrier generation and recombination processes are ...

rates,

carrier lifetime A definition in semiconductor physics, carrier lifetime is defined as the average time it takes for a minority carrier to recombine. The process through which this is done is typically known as minority carrier recombination. The energy rele ...

s, defect concentration, and trap states.

Electrical characterization techniques

Electrical characterization can be used to determine

resistivity Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allows ...

, carrier concentration, mobility,

contact resistance The term contact resistance refers to the contribution to the total resistance of a system which can be attributed to the contacting interfaces of electrical leads and connections as opposed to the intrinsic resistance. This effect is described ...

, barrier height, depletion width, oxide charge, interface states, carrier lifetimes, and deep level impurities. * Two-point probe * Four-point probe * Differential

Hall effect The Hall effect is the production of a voltage difference (the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor that is transverse to an electric current in the conductor and to an applied magnetic field perpendicular to the current. It was disc ...

Capacitance voltage profiling Capacitance is the capability of a material object or device to store electric charge. It is measured by the change in charge in response to a difference in electric potential, expressed as the ratio of those quantities. Commonly recognized are ...

Deep-level transient spectroscopy Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) is an experimental tool for studying electrically active defects (known as charge carrier traps) in semiconductors. DLTS establishes fundamental defect parameters and measures their concentration in the mater ...

(DLTS) *

Electron beam-induced current Electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) is a semiconductor analysis technique performed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) or scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). It is used to identify buried junctions or defects in semiconductor ...

Drive-level capacitance profiling Drive-level capacitance profiling (DLCP) is a type of capacitance–voltage profiling, capacitance–voltage-profiling characterization technique developed specifically for Amorphous solid, amorphous and polycrystalline materials, which have more a ...

(DLCP)

Optical characterization techniques

Microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of mi ...

Ellipsometry Ellipsometry is an optical technique for investigating the dielectric properties (complex refractive index or dielectric function) of thin films. Ellipsometry measures the change of polarization upon reflection or transmission and compares it to ...

Photoluminescence Photoluminescence (abbreviated as PL) is light emission from any form of matter after the absorption of photons (electromagnetic radiation). It is one of many forms of luminescence (light emission) and is initiated by photoexcitation (i.e. pho ...

* Absorption or transmission spectroscopy *

Raman spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy () (named after Indian physicist C. V. Raman) is a spectroscopic technique typically used to determine vibrational modes of molecules, although rotational and other low-frequency modes of systems may also be observed. Raman s ...

Reflectance The reflectance of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in Reflection (physics), reflecting radiant energy. It is the fraction of incident electromagnetic power that is reflected at the boundary. Reflectance is a component of the respon ...

modulation *

Cathodoluminescence Cathodoluminescence is an optical and electromagnetic phenomenon in which electrons impacting on a luminescent material such as a phosphor, cause the emission of photons which may have wavelengths in the visible spectrum. A familiar example is th ...

Physical and chemical characterization techniques

Electron beam Cathode rays or electron beam (e-beam) are streams of electrons observed in discharge tubes. If an evacuated glass tube is equipped with two electrodes and a voltage is applied, glass behind the positive electrode is observed to glow, due to ele ...

techniques ** Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) **

Transmission Electron Microscopy Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a specimen to form an image. The specimen is most often an ultrathin section less than 100 nm thick or a suspension on a gr ...

(TEM) **

Auger electron spectroscopy A Hanford scientist uses an Auger electron spectrometer to determine the elemental composition of surfaces. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES; pronounced in French) is a common analytical technique used specifically in the study of surfaces and, ...

(AES) **

Electron microprobe An electron microprobe (EMP), also known as an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) or electron micro probe analyzer (EMPA), is an analytical tool used to non-destructively determine the chemical composition of small volumes of solid materials. It ...

(EMP) **

Electron energy loss spectroscopy In electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) a material is exposed to a beam of electrons with a known, narrow range of kinetic energies. Some of the electrons will undergo inelastic scattering, which means that they lose energy and have their pa ...

(EELS) *

Ion beam An ion beam is a type of charged particle beam consisting of ions. Ion beams have many uses in electronics manufacturing (principally ion implantation) and other industries. A variety of ion beam sources exists, some derived from the mercu ...

techniques **

Sputtering In physics, sputtering is a phenomenon in which microscopic particles of a solid material are ejected from its surface, after the material is itself bombarded by energetic particles of a plasma or gas. It occurs naturally in outer space, and ...

Secondary ion mass spectrometry Secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a technique used to analyze the composition of solid surfaces and thin films by sputtering the surface of the specimen with a focused primary ion beam and collecting and analyzing ejected secondary ions ...

(SIMS) ** Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) *

X-ray X-rays (or rarely, ''X-radiation'') are a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. In many languages, it is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it in 1895 and named it ' ...

techniques **

X-ray fluorescence X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is the emission of characteristic "secondary" (or fluorescent) X-rays from a material that has been excited by being bombarded with high-energy X-rays or gamma rays. The phenomenon is widely used for elemental analysis ...

(XRF) **

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a surface-sensitive quantitative spectroscopic technique based on the photoelectric effect that can identify the elements that exist within a material (elemental composition) or are covering its surface, ...

(XPS) ** X-ray diffraction (XRD) ** X-ray topography **

Neutron activation analysis Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is the nuclear process used for determining the concentrations of elements in many materials. NAA allows discrete sampling of elements as it disregards the chemical form of a sample, and focuses solely on atomic ...

(NAA) ** Chemical etching

Future characterization methods

Many of these techniques have been perfected for

silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ...

, making it the most studied semiconductor material. This is a result of silicon's affordability and prominent use in

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

. As other fields such as

power electronics Power electronics is the application of electronics to the control and conversion of electric power. The first high-power electronic devices were made using mercury-arc valves. In modern systems, the conversion is performed with semiconducto ...

, LED devices, and

photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercial ...

develop, characterization of a variety of alternative materials (including

organic semiconductors Organic semiconductors are solids whose building blocks are pi-bonded molecules or polymers made up by carbon and hydrogen atoms and – at times – heteroatoms such as nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. They exist in the form of molecular crystals o ...

will continue to increase in importance. Many existing characterization methods will need to be adapted to accommodate the peculiarities of these new materials.

References

* Schroder, Dieter K. ''Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization.'' 3rd Ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey, 2006. * McGuire, Gary E. ''Characterization of Semiconductor Materials: Principles and Methods.'' Vol 1. Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1989. Semiconductor analysis