Surface recombination velocity on wet-cleaned silicon wafers using heterodyne lock-in ca rrierography imaging: measurement uniqueness investigation

Abstract

Characterization of semiconductor surface quality is important for evaluating the surface preparation methods. In this work, three wet-cleaned silicon wafers with different surface conditions were inspected using heterodyne lock-in carrierography (HeLIC) imaging simultaneously with homodyne photocarrier radiometry (HoPCR). The surface recombination velocity was measured at various queue times after the wet-clean treatment using HeLIC and was found to be consistent with values obtained using HoPCR. The results show that HeLIC can provide a reliable quantitative imaging tool for evaluating the surface conditions of wet-cleaned silicon wafers.