According to a UNM press release, an equipment upgrade at UNM’s Center for High Technology Materials is allowing researchers to observe how temperature and electric current change a semiconductor sample, adding new dimensions to the center’s ability to produce images of samples with a magnification of up to 300,000.
The electron beam-induced current upgrade was recently applied to the JEOL JSM-IT100 Scanning Electron Microscope, a high-throughput microscope which creates high resolution images and acceleration voltages, according to the release.
“EBIC is a powerful technique to image the electrical properties of semiconductors in conjunction with their structural properties,” Tito Busani, the nanofabrication operations manager at CHTM, is quoted as saying in the press release. “To generate an EBIC image, a SEM column is used to generate an electron beam, which is swept across a sample.”
The release states the system is capable of creating a visual representation of electrons that are collected in terms of brighter and darker areas, or non-collected electrons, at a specific junction.
Then, the SEM system generates an image of the sample and the junctions, which can be superimposed with the current image from the EBIC.
This allows CHTM researchers to visually show where the current, or electrons, are accumulated, and the electrical quality of the junction.
According to the release, instead of looking at photons of light, as in a typical microscope, or imaging electrons hitting a sample in an SEM, the SmartEBIC system allows researchers to image and measure variances of electric current.
Researchers can observe in real time the changes a current induces on their samples, as well as look at two points of electricity on a sample and watch them interact, according to the release. This technique can be used for diodes and transistors, to bias the sample in certain ways. Observing how the junction is working provides an ability to assess the ability of a sample or diode for amplification or as a switch.
According to the release, the EBIC device also features a Faraday Cup, allowing researchers to observe the true electron beam current in the sample chamber.
This can then be compared with the results of an experiment, so the researcher can measure the properties of current absorption or rejection, conductivity, of the sample.
Matthew Reisen is the news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @MReisen88.
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