Paper Titles
Preface
Comparison of the Irradiation Temperature Effect of on the Carrier Removal Rates in GaN and SiC
p.1
Investigation of Mechanical Stress and Warpage in 200 mm Silicon Carbide Wafers: Implications for Production Scalability
p.7
Challenges in Measuring Thin SiO2 Layers on 4H-SiC via Spectroscopic Ellipsometry
p.15
A Frequency-EBIC Technique for High Spatial Resolution of the Effective Minority Charge Carrier Lifetime in SiC PN-Junctions
p.21
Evaluation of Oxide Processing Steps in SiC Technology Using Contactless Corona-Based CV Measurements
p.29
Characterization of the Electric Field in Silicon Carbide Detectors by Optical Beam Induced Current
p.37
A Study on Simplifying the Process of a Single Cycle for Multiple Epitaxy and Implantation Method to Fabricate SiC Super Junction
p.43
Effects of 673K Temperature Anneal on a 4H-SiC CMOS NOT Logic Gate
p.49

A Frequency-EBIC Technique for High Spatial Resolution of the Effective Minority Charge Carrier Lifetime in SiC PN-Junctions

Article Preview
View Pdf By email

Abstract:

We present a new method to potentially map the effective minority charge carrier lifetime by means of a chopped electron beam induced current in a scanning electron microscope using a digital lock-in amplifier. While previous authors have been mainly interested in measuring the diffusion length and some even the minority charge carrier lifetime using line-scans, we show that this method could be extended to measure the lifetime locally in the cross section of a given device. In our case, we use a simple SiC pn-junction. The decrease of current with increasing chopping frequency of the electron beam makes a direct measurement of the effective lifetime possible. Inspired by optical beam induced current (OBIC), this novel approach has great potential to measure the minority charge carrier lifetime locally and is going to help device and process engineers to develop the next generation of SiC power devices.

You have full access to the following eBook
Material Characterisation and Devices Processing Read eBook

Info:

Periodical:

Materials Science Forum (Volume 1191)

Pages:

21-28

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4028/p-apC4NR

Citation:

Cite this paper

Online since:

May 2026

Authors:

Christian Stefan Gruber*, Gregor Pobegen, Jürgen Smoliner

Keywords:

Effective Lifetime, Electron Beam Induced Current, Minority Charge Carrier Lifetime, Recombination Lifetime, Scanning Electron Microscope, Time-Resolved EBIC

Export:

RIS, BibTeX

Permissions:

Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

Share:

Citation:

* - Corresponding Author

References

[1] Li, Z., Liu, A., Basnet, R., Black, L. E., Macdonald, D., & Nguyen, H. T. (2025). Applications of time-resolved photoluminescence for characterizing silicon photovoltaic materials. Semiconductor Science and Technology, 40(4), 045015.

DOI: 10.1088/1361-6641/adc47a

Google Scholar

[2] Sanders, A., & Kunst, M. (1991). Characterization of silicon wafers by transient microwave photoconductivity measurements. Solid-state electronics, 34(9), 1007-1015.

DOI: 10.1016/0038-1101(91)90220-s

Google Scholar

[3] D. K. Schroder, Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization, third ed., John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2006.

Google Scholar

[4] J. P. McKelvey, Solid state and semiconductor physics, Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, 1966.

Google Scholar

[5] S. Pang, A. Rohatgi, A new methodology for separating Shockley-Read-Hall lifetime and Auger recombination coefficients from the photoconductivity decay technique, Journal of applied physics, 74 (1993) 5554-5560.

DOI: 10.1063/1.354215

Google Scholar

[6] T. Fuyuki, H. Matsunami, Determination of lifetime and diffusion constant of minority carriers by a phase-shift technique using an electron-beam-induced current, Journal of Applied Physics, 52 (1981) 3428-3432.

DOI: 10.1063/1.329116

Google Scholar

[7] J. Pietzsch, Measurement of minority carrier lifetime in GaAs and GaAs(1-x)P(x) with an intensity-modulated electron beam, Solid-State Electronics, 25 (1982) 295-304.

DOI: 10.1016/0038-1101(82)90138-1

Google Scholar

[8] N. Honma, C. Munakata, H. Itoh, T. Warabisako, Nondestructive Measurement of Minority Carrier Lifetimes in Si Wafers Using Frequency Dependence of ac Photovoltages, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 25 (1986).

DOI: 10.1143/jjap.25.743

Google Scholar

[9] S. Bustillos-Vasco, N. Baier, C. Lobre, C. Cervera, N. Péré‑Laperne, A. Evirgen, O. Gravrand, Use of Electron Beam-Induced Current Technique to Characterize Transport Properties of Narrow-Gap-Energy Materials for IR Detection, Journal of Electronic Materials, 53 (2024) 5850-5857.

DOI: 10.1007/s11664-024-11307-2

Google Scholar

[10] S. M. Sze, Y. Li and K. K. Ng, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, third ed., John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2007.

Google Scholar