Apparatus and method for determining leakage current between a first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor region to be formed therein
First Claim
1. A method of determining leakage current between a first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor region to be subsequently formed therein, the method comprising the steps of:
- correlating surface minority carrier lifetime in the first semiconductor region to leakage current between the first and second semiconductor regions;
based on the correlation between surface minority carrier lifetime and leakage current, establishing a surface minority carrier lifetime threshold;
measuring surface minority carrier lifetime in the first semiconductor region; and
determining that the leakage current between the first and second semiconductor regions is acceptable if the measured surface minority carrier lifetime is greater than the surface minority carrier lifetime threshold.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for measuring leakage current between a first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor region to be formed therein includes a system for measuring surface minority carrier leakage within the first semiconductor region. A correlation is established between surface minority carrier lifetime in the first semiconductor region and leakage current between the first and second semiconductor regions, and in one embodiment a surface minority carrier lifetime threshold is designated based on this correlation. Leakage current between the first and second regions is acceptable if the measured surface minority carrier lifetime is greater than this threshold. In an alternate embodiment, a leakage current threshold is established, and the measured surface minority carrier leakage is converted via the correlation to a measured leakage current. Leakage current between the first and second regions is acceptable in this embodiment if the measured leakage current is less than the leakage current threshold.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A method of determining leakage current between a first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor region to be subsequently formed therein, the method comprising the steps of:
-
correlating surface minority carrier lifetime in the first semiconductor region to leakage current between the first and second semiconductor regions;
based on the correlation between surface minority carrier lifetime and leakage current, establishing a surface minority carrier lifetime threshold;
measuring surface minority carrier lifetime in the first semiconductor region; and
determining that the leakage current between the first and second semiconductor regions is acceptable if the measured surface minority carrier lifetime is greater than the surface minority carrier lifetime threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method of determining leakage current between a first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor region to be subsequently formed therein, the method comprising the steps of:
-
establishing a leakage current threshold;
correlating surface minority carrier lifetime in the first semiconductor region to leakage current between the first and second semiconductor regions;
measuring surface minority carrier lifetime in the first semiconductor region;
based on the correlation between surface minority carrier lifetime and leakage current, converting the measured surface minority carrier lifetime to a measured leakage current; and
determining that the leakage current between the first and second semiconductor regions is acceptable if the measured leakage current is less than the leakage current threshold. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
Specification