OUTLINE

• Introduction
• Semiconductors Basics
• DLTS Theory
• DLTS Requirements
• Example
• Summary
 Introduction
•Energetically "deep“ trapping levels in semiconductor space charge
region affect semiconductor performance
- Shortening of carrier life-time
- Enhanced recombination of minority carriers
- Output power limitations etc.

• Characterization of impurities and traps is essential to analyze the

performance of semiconductor

• DLTS was Introduced by D. V. Lang in 1974

• It is commonly Used for characterizing point defects in

semiconductors
•capacitance ==the ability of a system to store an electric charge….electric
charge joto bashi store hobe capacitance toto barbe.
 Introduction
• DLTS Principle
– Presence of trapped charge carriers change the depletion layer
capacitance of a pn-junction or Schottky diode.
–The transient measurement provides information on the defect energy
levels present in the band gap (between Ec and Ev).

• Electrical properties of defects:

– Energy position in band gap
– Capture cross section ????
– Concentration of defects

• Very sensitive: It can detect traps down to 108 cm-3 in very good
samples
• Non destructive
 Semiconductor Basics
 pn- junction (minority carrier hesab
kora hoy p-n junction dea)
W
---- ++
p n ++ n
p - - ++
- - ++
A
Ec Ec
F
C
Ef
qV0 W
Ef Ec
Ev Ev

Ev
• Connection of p- and n-type regions:
– Diffusion of charge carriers into the opposite regions.
–This will give rise to an electric field across the depletion region (W),
with a capacitance C
– No free charge carriers in W as the field will sweep them across the
junction
 Equilibrium Forward Bias Reverse Bias
VF VR

W W W
-- -- ++ -- + p -- -- --+++
+++
p - - ++++ n p - + n ------ n
- - ++ - ++ - - - +++
+++
F F F
q(V0 – VF)
qV0 q(V0 + VR)
Ec

Ev

• The SCR width (W) Changes with applied voltage and doping concentration
–High doping small W
–Low doping large W
•The depletion region width (W) will extend mostly into low-doped material in
order to keep charge balance
 Point Defects
- Substitution impurity: extra impurity atom in an origin position
- Vacancy: missing atom at a certain crystal lattice position
- Interstitial impurity atom: extra impurity atom in an interstitial position
- Self-interstitial atom: extra atom in an interstitial position;

These defects Introduce energy

level in the band structure
•Shallow level
–Close to the edges of the bandgap
very near to conduction band or
valance band.
–Use mainly as a dopant
•Deep level
–Close to the middle of the bandgap
large energy difference from Ec and
Ev
–Act as generation/recombination or
trap center.
 DLTS
• Why is it called “DEEP LEVEL”?

--- Lattice defects produce localized energy states that

may have energy levels occurring within the band gap.

--- The localized states can range from a few meV to a few
tenths of an eV from either the conduction or valence
bands.
---The determination of whether a level can be considered
deep or shallowis rather arbitrary. A depthof 0.1 eV is
usually termed deep level
 Capture & Emission Processes
Deep levels in the band gap act as
- Recombination centers: can interact with both edges of bandgap
(conduction and valance band) cn= cp .
- Electron traps: If they mostly interact with the conduction band cn ≫ cp .
- Hole traps: If they mostly interact with the valence band cn ≪ cp .

Thermal (electron) emission rate: Conduction Band

 n vn N c   (EC  Et )  en cn
en  exp   Electron Trap center
g  kT  cn
1 3 Recombination center
𝑣𝑛 𝑇2 𝑁𝑐 𝑇2 cp
∝ ∝ Hole Trap Center
 EC  E t  cp ep
en   n  T exp  2

 kT 
Valence Band
 DLTS Theory V
Vp
Principle of measurement
• Diode kept at fixed reverse bias. (first e
t
reverse bias delam)
• Filling Pulse to fill the traps. (i.e..traps e- Vr
dea fill up hoilo)
• Return to the reverse bias: (abar reverse
bias delam)
-Change of the W C
-Emission of charge carriers changes the
capacitance of the depletion region as a
function of time C(rb)
C
𝐶 𝑡 = 𝐶𝑟 𝑏 − ∆𝐶𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝
−𝑒𝑛 𝑡
• Repeated through a temperature scan 0
t
• Traps fill up howar jonno C poriman capacitance kome gese. Tarpor
aste aste traps gula unfilled hoy…tai with time aste aste capacitance
• Reverse bias dewar jonno traps gula unfilled hoye
gese…+ve hoye gese…tai capacitance bere
gese…. Reverse bias withdraw korar por
 DLTS Theory ???
DLTS Measurement:
(A)Equilibrium state
(B) Filling pulse
(C)Return to the reverse
bias with change in the
capacitance
(D) Emission case.
Area bashi capacetence
kom…… area kom
capacetence bashi…
 DLTS Theory •Built of the DLTS spectra
C(t2) – C(t1) vs Temperature
-The carrier concentration of the traps C(t2) – C(t1) max at certain T
is changed exponentially

nT (t)  N T exp(ent)

Capacitance Transient (pF)

- The trap concentration can be

Temperature (K)
deduced from the maximum amplitude
of the transient
Akta certain amount of temperature
lage traps unfield korar
jonno…..optimum temperature ta oi
temperature jai temperature e t1 and t2
te capacitance difference max hoy.

𝑁𝑇
∆𝐶𝑜 = 𝐶𝑟
2𝑁𝑑

t1 t2 Time (s)
∆𝐶 =capacitance difference max
 Build of the DLTS spectra

– DLTS transient is multiplied by a weighting function W(t)

𝐶𝑟 𝑏
𝑆= ∆𝐶 𝑡 𝑊 𝑡 𝑑𝑡= 𝑁
exp −𝑒𝑛 𝑡 𝑊 𝑡
2𝑁
𝑇 𝑑
𝑑𝑡
We “record” the transient for each temperature, then create the spectra
after the measurement
Capacitance Transient (pF)

DLTS Spectra
1

-1
Time (s) Temperature (K)
 Extraction of defect properties
RATE WINDOW technique
– By varying the length of the “rate-window”, the peak is shifted in temperature
– Emission rate (en) of each window can be numerically calculated.
– A set of Tmax and en for all DLTS spectra will be obtained.
Capacitance Transient (pF)

T3, en3 T2, en2 T1, en1

W1 W2 W3 Time (s) Temperature (K)

 Extraction of defect properties ????
- The emission rate
 EC  E t  𝑒𝑛 𝐸𝑐 −
en   n  T exp  
2
 𝑙𝑛
𝑇2
= 𝑙𝑛 𝛽𝜎𝑛 𝐸𝑇𝑘𝑇
 kT  −
𝑒
Arrhenius plot of against
𝑙𝑛 𝑇2 1/𝑇

𝐸𝑐 = 0.67 𝑒𝑉
𝜎𝑛 = 4∗ 10−14 𝑐𝑚2
Fourier Transform DLTS
• The Fourier transform method is based on the
principle that a periodic signal can be described by
a series of sine and cosine functions

• The height of the peak is related to the concentration

of the trap

• The Fourier technique provides several advantages

compared to conventional DLTS

• A complete temperature scan in the Fourier DLTS can

provide more data points, and thus more accuracy
Laplace Transform DLTS

• The main advantage of using Laplace techniques

is that the determination of the emission rate for a
given temperature is more well defined, or less
ambiguous.
 Example ????
DLTS measurements
PN-diodes (Si)

Irradiated by protons
with dose
2 ∗ 1010 𝑐𝑚−2

Defect Identity Energy Position Capture Cross Section

VO [78K] 𝐸𝐶 − 𝐸𝑡 = 0.17 𝑒𝑉 𝜎 = 7.2 ∗ 10−15 𝑐𝑚2
V2(=/−) [114K] 𝐸𝐶 − 𝐸𝑡 = 0.23 𝑒𝑉 𝜎 = 3.5 ∗ 10−15 𝑐𝑚2
V2(−/0) [196K] 𝐸𝐶 − 𝐸𝑡 = 0.41 𝑒𝑉 𝜎 = 2 ∗ 10−15 𝑐𝑚2
 DLTS Requirement
•Samples
– Rectifying junction (Schottky or pn-junction)
– Junction capacitance 1-1000pF, (100pF-range most ideal)
– Trap concentration less than 10-15% of doping
C  Crb or NT  Nd
– Low leakage current and low conductance
FOR Schottky Diode -metal film, or gate contact, can be
deposited on the semiconductor by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, or
chemical vapor deposition

FOR p-n Junction diode – dopants either by alloying, diffusion, and ion
implantation or during epitaxial growth.
 DLTS Instrumentation
Required Equipment Equipment at MiNaLab
 Two setups in temperature range 15K-300K
– Capacitance meter  One setup in temperature range 77K-400K
– Pulse generator  One setup in temperature range 77K-600K
– Temperature controller
• Liquid Nitrogen
• Helium cryostat
• Heater
– Temperature Reader

(DLTS) Presentation, MENA9510 Course,2013.

 Problems of DLTS
• It is not effective for high-resistivity materials due to the problems
involved in obtaining suitable junctions on such materials.

• low concentration of free carriers in such materials, an application

of a reverse bias may cause the whole sample to be depleted. This
shortcoming leads to the introduction of photo induced current
transient spectroscopy (PICTS or PITS)

• The interpretation of DLTS curves is susceptible to

errors

• Traps with very large or very small capture cross-sections are not
easily detected
 Summary
•Deep Level Transient spectroscopy
– Characterization of electrically active defects
• Energy position in band gap
• Capture cross section
• Concentration of defects with accuracy up to (~108cm-3)
– No information about the chemical composition.

•Signal is obtained by filling pulse in applied bias, and observing a

transient decay of trapped charge carriers in the depletion region.

• Requirement:
– DLTS requires rectifying junction with capacitance in 1-1000pF range
– Low leakage current is important to get good measurements
– Trap concentrations between 0.0001 - 0.2 of doping concentrations