pn Junction Location Using an EBIC Technique in a Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope

STEM-EBIC imaging, a nano-characterization technique, has been used in the study of electrically active defects, minority carrier diffusion length, surface recombination velocity, and inhomogeneities in Si pn junctions. In this article, the authors explain how they developed and built a STEM-EBIC system, which they then used to determine the junction location of an InGaN quantum well LED. They also developed a novel FIB-based sample preparation method and a custom sample holder, facilitating the simultaneous collection of Z-contrast, EBIC, and energy dispersive spectroscopy images. The relative position of the pn junction with respect to the quantum well was found to be 19 ± 3 nm from the center of well.