Capacitance-voltage profiling: Research-grade approach versus low-cost alternatives

Abstract

We describe an experiment that implements capacitance-voltage profiling on a reverse-biased Schottky barrier diode to determine the density of impurity dopants in its semiconductor layer as well as its built-in electric potential. Our sample is a commercially produced Schottky diode. Three different experimental setups, one using research-grade instrumentation, the other two using low-cost alternatives, are given and their results compared. In each of the low-cost setups, phase-sensitive detection required to measure the sample's capacitance is carried out using an inexpensive data acquisition (DAQ) device and a software program that implements a lock-in detection algorithm. The limitations of the DAQ device being used (e.g., restricted analog-to-digital conversion speed, inadequate waveform generation capabilities, lack of hardware triggering) are taken into account in each setup. Excellent agreement for the value of the doping density obtained by the all three setups is found and this value is shown to be consistent with the result of an independent method (secondary ion mass spectroscopy).