Designing a Robust Kelvin Probe Setup Optimized for Long-Term Surface Photovoltage Acquisition

Abstract

We introduce a robust low-budget Kelvin probe design that is optimized for the long-term acquisition of surface photovoltage (SPV) data, especially developed for highly resistive systems, which exhibit—in contrast to conventional semiconductors—very slow photoinduced charge relaxation processes in the range of hours and days. The device provides convenient optical access to the sample, as well as high mechanical and electrical stability due to off-resonance operation, showing a noise band as narrow as 1 mV. Furthermore, the acquisition of temperature-dependent SPV transients necessary for SPV-based deep-level transient spectroscopy becomes easily possible. The performance of the instrument is demonstrated by recording long-term SPV transients of the ultra-slowly relaxing model oxide strontium titanate (SrTiO 3 ) over 20 h.