Evaluation of minority-carrier diffusion length in n-type ß-Fe Si2 single crystals by electron-beam-induced current

Abstract

We have evaluated the diffusion length of minority carriers (holes) in single-crystalline n -type ß-Fe Si2 bulk grown by chemical vapor transport by means of electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) technique in the edge-scan configuration. The EBIC line-scan data showed a clear exponential dependence of distance from the Al electrode. The diffusion length was estimated to be 20 μm at room temperature, and increased upon high-temperature annealing, reaching approximately 30 μm after annealing at 800 °C for 8 h. This result explained the improvement of photoresponsivity in the Aln-ß-Fe Si2 Schottky diodes by high-temperature annealing. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.