Measurement of electronic transport property of semiconductors by three-dimensional modulated free carrier absorption technique

Abstract

A three-dimensional model for the modulated free carrier absorption (MFCA) is developed to measure the electronic transport properties (the carrier lifetime, the carrier diffusivity, and the front surface recombination velocity) of semiconductor wafers. The dependence of MFCA amplitude and phase on the electronic transport properties at different pump-probe-beam separation and different modulation frequencies is investigated. It is found that the sensitivities of MFCA signal to individual transport parameters increase with increasing two-beam separation. An experiment with a silicon wafer is performed and the carrier lifetime, carrier diffusivity, and front surface recombination velocity are determined simultaneously and unambiguously by fitting the observed values of the MFCA amplitude and phase as functions of the separation between the pump and probe laser spots, measured at several modulation frequencies covering an appropriate range.