Abstract
Abstract A new electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) apparatus for studying charge carrier recombination at extended defects in semiconductors is described. It employs computer-automated measurement and control equipment to acquire high resolution beam-induced current images using a conventional scanning electron microscope. The EBIC images typically contain a matrix of 512 × 512 digitally measured points, each points, which is a result of multiple averaging. The images can be displayed on a workstation monitor and image processing using commercially available software packages can be performed. All the components of the system and software, except the data acquisition software routines, are readily available as off-the-shelf items. A method of calibrating the equipment in terms of quantum efficiency by scanning well-characterized solar cells of known material and physical properties was developed. As an example of an application, a modified quantitative analysis method is applied to the problem of precipitates that act as point recombination centers distributed through a Czochralski silicon solar cell. The analysis, based on non-linear curve fitting, results in a characterization of the strength of the charge carrier recombination at a given defect and the depth of the defect below the sample surface.
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