Fundamentals of junction measurements in the study of deep energy levels in semiconductors

Abstract

A number of techniques for the experimental study of deep energy levels in semiconductors are presented. In these techniques, the changes in the electron occupancies of deep energy levels in the space-charge regions of junction barriers are used to measure absolute values of thermal and optical emission rates and capture cross sections. The unique ability of these techniques is to yield information on all the important parameters mentioned from a single sample. Since in each individual experiment the signals obtained are determined by only one or two of these parameters, the evaluation of the experimental data is very straightforward.