A method of determining the lifetime and diffusion coefficient of minority carriers in a semiconductor wafer

A method of determining the lifetime pi and diffusion coefficient D of excess minority carriers is proposed. It is shown that an approximate lifetime and diffusion coefficient are obtained graphically if the back-surface recombination velocity of the sample is large. More precise values of pi and D are obtained by curve fitting with the aid of calculated correction factors. It is also shown that the proposed method can be applied to a nondestructive measurement of a minority-carrier lifetime using liquid-metal contacts (mercury probes).>