Electrical characterization of thin SOI wafers using lateral MOS transient capacitance measurements

A novel electrical evaluation method was proposed for crystal quality characterization of thin Si on insulator (SOI) wafers, which was done by measurement of minority carrier generation lifetime (tau(g)) using transient capacitance method for lateral metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor. The lateral MOS capacitors were fabricated on three kinds of thin SOI wafers. The crystal quality difference among these three wafers was clearly shown by the tau(g) measurement results and discussed from a viewpoint of SOI fabrication. The series resistance influence on the capacitance measurement for this lateral MOS capacitor was discussed in detail. The validity of this method was confirmed by comparing the intensities of photoluminescence signals due to electron-hole droplet in the band-edge emission. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.