STEM EBIC as a Quantitative Probe of Semiconductor Devices

Abstract

Electron beam-induced current (EBIC) imaging in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), STEM-EBIC, provides direct access to carrier transport at the nanoscale. While well established in bulk SEM geometries, its application to thin TEM lamellae remains largely unexplored. Here, we present a systematic STEM-EBIC study of silicon photodiode lamellae prepared by gallium and xenon focused ion beam (FIB) milling. We directly visualize the p-n junctions in thin cross sections and extract effective diffusion lengths for electrons and holes as a function of local thickness. The values are orders of magnitude smaller than those obtained by SEM-EBIC on bulk silicon, reflecting pronounced surface recombination and FIB-induced surface modifications. Current-voltage measurements further reveal severe deviations from the expected diode-like behavior, which we attribute to ohmic metal-semiconductor contacts in the emasurement setup. Our analysis establishes STEM-EBIC as a quantitative probe of carrier transport in nanoscale devices.