Electron Beam-Induced Current

The article summarizes the main theoretical issues at the basis of the application of EBIC (Electron Beam-induced Current) method to the study of fundamental properties of semiconductors such as minority carrier lifetime and diffusion length, dopant concentration, and nonradiative recombination efficiency of extended defects. Results of application to some practical cases are presented. Since EBIC experiments are carried out in an SEM (scanning electron microscope) submicrometer and even nanometer resolution, using a field emission SEM, can be achieved which makes EBIC a powerful method also for the study of semiconductor nanostructures like nanowires.