The Optics Laboratory

Excess Carrier Lifetime: Quantitative Measurement at High Spatial Resolution

The lifetime of excess carriers, carriers created by shining light on a semiconductor, is modified by the presence of defects. These defects may be buried under the surface or be defects in the surface termination. We image this process at high spatial resolution, establish that the method can be quantitative, examine the origins of the high resolution, and discuss other properties in relation to silicon-on-insulator samples.