Accurate measuring of long steady state minority carrier diffusion lengths

Abstract

Surface photo-voltage measurements are used to accurately determine very long steady state diffusion length of minority carriers and to determine iron contaminant concentrations and other recombination centers in very pure wafers. Disclosed methods use multiple (e.g., at least two) non-steady state surface photovoltage measurements of diffusion length done at multiple (e.g., at least two) modulation frequencies. The measured diffusion lengths are then used to obtain a steady state diffusion length with an algorithm extrapolating diffusion length to zero frequency. The iron contaminant concentration is obtained from near steady state measurement of diffusion length at elevated frequency before and after iron activation. The concentration of other recombination centers can then be determined from the steady state diffusion length and the iron concentration measured at elevated frequency.