Electron beam‐induced current in direct band‐gap semiconductors

Monte Carlo calculations are used to compute the generated electron–hole pair distribution and the electron beam‐induced current in order to determine the minority carriers diffusion lengths when an electron beam probes a semiconductor specimen in the neighborhood of a p‐n junction. It is shown that with direct band‐gap semiconductor materials, such as GaAs, the current generated by the reabsorbed recombination radiation must be taken into account. Its contribution can be evaluated by comparison with the cathodoluminescence signal. Three GaAs devices of different doping level are checked. Plots of computed induced current versus probe position for a GaAs p‐n junction are presented.