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Electron beam induced current (EBIC) measurements provide a powerful tool for characterizing semiconductor based materials and devices. By measuring the current generated by the electron beam of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), EBIC allows us to extract the minority carrier diffusion length (L) and the surface recombination velocity to diffusivity ratio (S/D) of a material. When combined with information on minority carrier lifetime (τ), for instance from time-resolved photoluminescence measurements, the minority carrier mobility of the material can be extracted. However, the EBIC technique relies heavily on the accurate modeling of the carrier generation and collection process. Traditionally, this was achieved using a combination of empirical analytical expressions (and later Monte Carlo simulations) for carrier generation and analytical diffusion/ recombination expressions for carrier collection. This approach introduces significant uncertainties into the extracted material parameters. Here, we present a numerical approach to EBIC modeling which improves the spatial resolution of our model, while also retaining information regarding the relative EBIC signal as a function of incident beam energies and currents. We apply this technique to investigate the temperature dependent minority carrier mobility of InAs/InAsSb and InGaAs/ InAsSb strained layer superlattice infrared detectors and compare our results to the values obtained using external quantum efficiency measurements of the same samples. Our approach not only allows for an improvement in the uncertainty of the extracted material parameters, but also offers insight into the material and device behavior as a function of nonequilibrium carrier concentration. The technique presented here offers potentially improved characterization of not only infrared detectors, but a range of semiconductor-based devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time evolution of gallium nitride quantum dots luminescence has been recorded in situ in a scanning electron microscope. Electrons of 10 keV were injected in a stationary spot in a scanning electron microscope during 30 min. Two different regimes were evidenced depending on the beam current density. At low density, the cathodoluminescence (CL) intensity decreased rapidly and a dark spot appeared. At high beam density, the CL intensity decrease was slower, and a dark ring centered on the beam injection location was formed. All the results are coherently interpreted by an enhanced diffusion of nonradiative defects promoted by nonradiative recombinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, the contrast reversal effect in scanning-capacitance-microscopy (SCM) dopant concentration extraction is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The shift of the turning point in the nonmonotonic response of peak dC/dV signal versus dopant concentration to higher dopant concentrations is explained by the difference of the capture/emission time constant of the interface states and the series resistance of the semiconductor sample. This is verified by comparing the experimental SCM measurements with the simulated peak dC/dV profile on a p-type multiple dopant step sample. The contrast reversal effect, which affects the accuracy of dopant concentration extraction using the SCM peak dC/dV signal, can be minimized by using an overlying oxide with good interfacial quality and a semiconductor sample of low series resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]