Review-Carrier Lifetime Spectroscopy for Defect Characterization in Semiconductor Materials and Devices

A review on applications of the contact-less carrier inspection techniques for characterization of various materials is presented, based on recording of the microwave probed photo-conductivity (MW-PC) and free carrier infrared absorption (IR-FCA) transients. Comparison of characteristics measured by these techniques with data obtained by alternative methods is discussed. The models and principles of carrier lifetime description are briefly analyzed. Instrumentation and schemes for implementation of the MW-PC and IR-FCA techniques are presented. Applications of carrier lifetime measurements for material and defect characterization on different structures are illustrated. (c) 2016 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.