Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC)

Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC)

Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) is a semiconductor analysis technique that uses a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) or Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) to create electron-hole pairs (charge carriers), by the interaction of electron beam and semiconductor surface. When these charge carrier pairs diffuse into an area having an internal electric field, such as at p-n junctions or Schottky junctions in integrated circuits, the electrons and holes will be separated and the potential difference induces a measurable current (EBIC). The EBIC can be measured by a picoammeter and converted to an image on the screen of the SEM or STEM. The electron-hole pairs also recombine at defects reducing the value of EBIC at defect locations.

The SEM (or STEM)/EBIC technique can be used to map electronic activity across the semiconductor on the surface as well as sample cross-sections. The EBIC map reveals the distribution of defects with nanometer scale precision along with information on minority carrier properties like diffusion length and surface recombination velocity

Common Uses of Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC)

• It is used to identify buried junctions or defects in semiconductors
• It is used to examine minority carrier properties
• This technique is used in semiconductor failure analysis and solid-state physics.  

 Advantages of Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC)

• Ability to examine and map p-n junction and depletion region locations
• Facilitates optimization of semiconductor device designs
• Facilitates fault detection in Integrated Circuits