Lock-in carrierography of semiconductors and optoelectronics

Abstract

Lock-in carrierography (LIC), a recently emerging camera-based imaging technique, is proving to be very promising for noncontact and quantitative characterization of electrical/electronic properties of semiconductor and optoelectronic materials/devices at different stages of research, fabrication, and manufacturing. This tutorial is devoted to LIC and it contains four sections. First, the background of the terminology, the needs from the electronics industry, and the research progress of LIC are briefly introduced. Section II is regarding homodyne LIC, including the relevant basics (semiconductor and photoluminescence physics, digital lock-in imaging strategy, experimental configuration, etc.) and its applications to carrier effective lifetime imaging, resistivity imaging, and Si solar cell electrical characterization, while Sec. III is for heterodyne LIC, including the relevant basics (high-frequency carrier density waves, heterodyne photoluminescence signal generation mechanisms, nonlinear carrier recombination dynamics, etc.) and its applications to surface recombination velocity imaging, carrier trapping dynamic parameters imaging, and quantum-dot solar cell characterization. Comments and advice on the future study of LIC are given in the Outlook section.