Chapter 2 Defect Identification Using Capacitance Spectroscopy

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the methods of capacitance spectroscopy and the instrumentation with which these methods are implemented. The chapter also describes the properties of growth of semiconductors. The technological importance of semiconductors derives from the fact that their electrical conductivity is easily modified by the addition of low concentrations of impurity atoms, which substitute for the host atoms in the lattice. Substitutional impurities that introduce electronic states lying close to the bottom of the conduction band or the top of the valence band in the band gap of the semiconductor are termed “shallow donor or acceptor states.” Deep defect states are often referred to as “traps,” “recombination centers,” “generation centers,” or “deep levels.” The application of external perturbations—uniaxial stress or hydrostatic pressure—to modify the sample properties or the defect properties during the measurement is explained in the chapter.