Corona-oxide-semiconductor device characterization

We describe a novel contactless semiconductor characterization technique capable of determining a number of semiconductor material and device parameters. It consists of charge deposited on a semiconductor sample from a corona source and the subsequent measurement of surface voltage as a function of time using a Kelvin probe. Both positive and negative charge can be deposited to create a variety of surface conditions. For oxidized samples, the technique yields oxide thickness, net oxide charge, mobile oxide charge and effective oxide charge density, interface trap density, and flatband voltage. For junction devices it yields the near surface doping density, and generation lifetime. When coupled with optical excitation, the technique can be further extended to determine the minority carrier lifetime. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.