Evaluation of the diffusion length of minority carriers in bulk GaAs

The diffusion length of minority charge carriers has been investigated in LEC GaAs, silicon-doped with doping density N(D)-N(A) ranging from 10(16) to 10(18) cm-3, by surface photovoltage (SPV) and electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. Au Schottky diodes have been evaporated along the diameter of wafers cut from different doping density ingots to determine the variation of minority carrier diffusion length with both the radial position on the slice and the carrier concentration. The diffusion length values obtained by optical and electron excitation enhance systematic differences, which can be explained by the different surface recombination weight in the carrier generation volume and by the injection level, too. In all the examined samples an M-shaped radial variation of the diffusion length has been observed; on the other hand, the mean value of L(p) increases from 0.5 to 7-mu-m when the doping concentration increases. The authors correlate this distribution to the electrical inhomogeneity induced by native defects and associated recombination centres. The role of the dislocations, which induce two competitive effects, i.e. an enhanced recombination probability and a precipitate condensation, is here discussed