Publisher's Synopsis
Semiconductors are materials that have an electrical conductivity intermediate between the electrical conductivity of good conductors (such as aluminum and copper) and good insulators (some glasses and plastics). There are a great many materials that exhibit semiconducting behavior but only a very few of them are of much interest for electronics. Silicon is the most important semiconductor and is the active material in almost all electronic devices. A few other semiconductors- for example, gallium arsenide- are essential because they can be used to make optoelectronic devices. Semiconductor materials are particularly useful for electronics because the electrical conductivity of the pure material can be greatly changed by the introduction of a small number of impurities. Semiconductor technologies continue to evolve and amaze us. New materials, new structures, new manufacturing tools, and new advancements in modelling and simulation form a breeding ground for novel high performance electronic and photonic devices. Semiconductor characterization has continued its relentless advance since the publication of the second edition. New techniques have been developed, others have been refined. Semiconductor materials and devices continue to occupy a preeminent technological position due to their importance when building integrated electronic systems used in a wide range of applications from computers, cell-phones, personal digital assistants, digital cameras and electronic entertainment systems, to electronic instrumentation for medical diagnositics and environmental monitoring. Key ingredients of this technological dominance have been the rapid advances made in the quality and processing of materials - semiconductors, conductors and dielectrics - which have given metal oxide semiconductor device technology its important characteristics of negligible standby power dissipation, good input-output isolation, surface potential control and reliable operation. However, when assessing material quality and device reliability, it is important to have fast, nondestructive, accurate and easy-to-use electrical characterization techniques available, so that important parameters such as carrier doping density, type and mobility of carriers, interface quality, oxide trap density, semiconductor bulk defect density, contact and other parasitic resistances and oxide electrical integrity can be determined. Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization covers all aspects of semiconductor technology concerning materials, technological processes, and devices, including their modelling, design, integration, and manufacturing. It describes some of the more widely employed and popular techniques that are used to determine these important parameters. The techniques presented in this chapter range in both complexity and test structure requirements from simple current-voltage measurements to more sophisticated low-frequency noise, charge pumping and deep-level transient spectroscopy techniques.
