Computation of Charge Collection Probability for

Any Collecting Junction Shape

Oka Kurniawan1, Vincent K. S. Ong2, Chee Chin Tan2 and Erping Li1
1 2
Institute of High Performance Computing School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
A*STAR Nanyang Technological University
Singapore 117528 Singapore 639798
e-mail: kurniawano@ihpc.a-star.edu.sg e-mail: vo@pmail.ntu.edu.sg, tanc0184@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract—Electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) of the
scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been widely used for
semiconductor devices and materials characterizations. The
charge collection probability within a collecting junction plays an
important role in determining the EBIC current. The
conventional approach starts by solving the continuity equation
to obtain the charge carrier density and then the analytical
expression for the charge collection probability. Knowing the
analytical expression of the charge collection probability
enhances the study and development of the measurement
technique. However, the conventional method usually requires
lot of mathematical effort and the derived analytical expression is
valid only for one particular junction shape. This paper presents
a simple and straight forward computational method for the
charge collection probability distribution within the charge
collecting junction well by utilizing the reciprocity theorem and
finite difference method with the junction shape serves as the
boundary conditions. It not only simplifies the computation but
also applicable to any junction shape as long as the drift-diffusion
model remains valid. This method was verified using a U-shaped
junction well.
they encounter built-in electric field, the minority and the
majority carriers are separated, preventing them from
recombining. This separation sometimes referred to a
collection and this charge collection leads to an induced current
flow in external circuit [3].
The EBIC current I (x’, z’) is simply the charge collection
probability Q (x’, z’) convoluted with the with the generation
volume distribution [4]. This is simply expressed as
I ( x' , z' ) = ∫∫ Q(x', z')g(x − x', z / R)dxdz (1)
where g(x-x’, z/R) is the 2-D distribution of the generation
volume and this generation volume usually involves Gaussian
like distribution. The EBIC current and its analytical
expression can be easily derived from the charge collection
probability if the generation volume distribution is known. If a
point source charge generation is used, the EBIC current for
this particular case is simply reduces to the charge collection
probability.

Index Terms—Charge carrier processes, electron beam

The analytical expressions for charge collection probability
applications, finite difference methods, semiconductor materials and hence the EBIC profile for the two commonly adopted
measurements, simulation. collector configurations, normal-collector configuration and
planar-collector configuration, were well derived in
I. INTRODUCTION literature[4-10], however, those analytical expressions are not
The electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) mode of the applicable to devices with finite junction dimension such as L-
scanning electron microscope (SEM) is one of the widely used shaped or U-shaped junction. This is because one has to
techniques for semiconductor devices and materials assume that the junction is infinitely deep and that the
characterizations [1]. It is often used in the characterization of generation volume is near the surface if the analytical
the minority carriers transport properties, defect and failure expression for normal-collector configuration is to be used.
analysis of semiconductor devices, p-n junction profiling, and
the imaging of recombination sites [2]. The reasons for the
popularity of this technique are its non-destructive property,
high lateral resolution and depth of resolution of the electron
beam source as well as the availability of well derived
analytical expressions of the EBIC profile which enhance the
study of charge collection and allow the many applications of
the EBIC technique.
In the EBIC technique, a large number of electron-hole
pairs (ehps) are generated when a focused energetic electron
beam impinges upon the sample. The region in which the ehps
are generated is known as the generation volume. These ephs
will tend to diffuse away from the generation volume and if
Figure 1. U-shaped geometry of a junction well

639 ISIC 2009

One also has to assume that the junction is very narrow if the
analytical expression for planar-collector configuration is to be
used. These assumptions and its analytical expressions are no
longer valid and may pose some inaccuracies if it is applied to
devices with finite junction dimension.
The charge collection probability for devices with finite
junction dimension is conventionally derived by solving the
charge continuity equation to yield the analytical expression.
Nevertheless, the derivation of the analytical expression is
usually mathematically complex. Besides that, those derived
analytical solution is usually only applicable to one particular
collecting junction shape. For example, the analytical
expression for the U-shaped junction well shown in Fig. 1, a
junction shape that is commonly used for bipolar devices, was
derived in [11] by utilizing the reciprocity theorem and Green’s
function method.
In this paper, we present a new computational method for
the charge collection probability distribution within the
collecting junction by using the reciprocity theorem and
solving the respective partial differential equation using finite
difference method. The charge collection probability
distribution within the junction well for the U-shaped junction
is computed using this method and the distribution is compared
with the one obtained using the analytical expression. With
this method one is able to compute the charge collection
probability distribution directly regardless of the shape of the
junction, provided that the boundary condition of the junction
is well determined and the drift diffusion model is valid.
II. THEORY
In 2-D, i.e., the x-z plane, the continuity equation for a point
source generation volume at zero electric field can be written as
∂ 2 q(x, z) ∂ 2 q(x, z) δ(x − x ' , z − z' )
+ − λ 2 q(x, z) = −
∂x 2 ∂z 2 D
where q is the minority carrier concentration for n-type
samples, λ is the reciprocal of the diffusion length i.e. λ = 1/L,
D is the diffusion coefficient and the delta function refers to the
point source charge generation at x = x’ and z = z’.
The electron- beam-induced current can be computed if the
excess minority carrier concentration due to generation volume
is known. The charge collection probability is the electron-
beam-induced current if the generation volume is a point
source charge generation which can be represented by a
Green’s function. The charge collection probability is the
product of the charge collection at the boundary and the
gradient of the Green’s function in the direction normal to that
boundary. This is expressed as
∂G
∫
Q( x' , z' ) = Qs
∂n
• dA
where Qs is the value at the surface, and the gradient is normal
outward at the surface.
The reciprocity theorem [12-14] states that the charge
collection probability satisfies the homogeneous version of the
continuity equation as (2). As a result, the charge collection
probability Q obeys the following homogeneous continuity
equation
∂ 2 Q(x ' , z' ) ∂ 2 Q(x ' , z' )
+ − λ 2 Q(x ' , z' ) = 0. (4)
∂x 2
∂z 2
It is also found in [13] that the reciprocity theorem applicable
when the electric field in the sample is not zero.
Once the boundary conditions are specified, the charge
collection probability can be computed by solving the partial
differential equation in (4) analytically or with some numerical
technique. The latter technique avoids computational
difficulties encountered when one solves (4) analytically.
Solving (4) numerically simplifies the computation since one
does not necessarily compute the charge density and is able to
obtain the final charge collection probability directly.
The partial differential equation (4) can be solved
numerically by using finite difference method. In finite
difference method, the independent continuous variables are
replaced by discrete variables having its values at each node
point that spans the domain of interest [15]. In the 2-D plane,
the grid points where the approximate solutions are calculated
are defined to be
(x i , z j ) = (ix s , jz s ), where i, j = 1, 2, 3,... (5)
where xs and zs are the horizontal and vertical spacings between
the grid points. A good approximation can be achieved if the
spacings are sufficiently small.
The centered difference approximation which gives a
second order approximation for the second derivative function
[16] is given by
f(x + x s ) − 2f (x)+ f(x − x s )
f '' (x) ≈ . (6)
(2) xs 2
The derivatives in (4) are replaced with (6) and expressed as
Qi+1, j − 2Q i, j + Qi −1, j Q i, j+1 −2Q i, j + Qi, j −1
+ − λ 2 Qi, j = 0.
2 2
xs zs
(7)
Applying (7) into each node points will result a system of
equation. The system of equation can be represented in a
matrix form
Ax = b (8)
where A contains the coefficients of the equations, x gives the
solution of Qi,j and b is determine from the boundary
conditions.
(3)
The boundary conditions become obvious if its physical
configuration is known. The collection is zero if the beam is
located at the ohmic contact while the collection is unity if the
beam is located at the junction.
Solving (8) with the given boundary condition, gives the
approximate solution of Q at each grid point. As a result, the
charge collection probability distribution within the collecting
junction is obtained directly without difficulties.
640
 III. VERIFICATION
A U-shape junction well as shown in Fig. 1 with 5 μm for
both its width and height, and uniform m mesh spacing is
defined. The boundary conditions for such a junction shape
are as follows
Q = 1, for x = 0 and 0 ≤ z ≤ h
Q = 1, for x = d and 0 ≤ z ≤ h
(9)
Q = 0, for z = 0 and 0 < x < d
Q = 1, for z = h and 0 ≤ x ≤ d .

Figure 3. Relative difference in charge coollection probability between the

result computed using Finite difference and
d analytical expression, L = 1μm.

TABLE I. STATISTIC SUMMARY TABLLE FOR ABSOLUTE DIFFERENCE IN

COMPUTED CHARGE COLLECTION PROBABILITY WITH RESPECT OF
ANALYTICAL EXPRESSION FOR U-SHAPED
S JUNCTION WELL

L = 1 μm L = 3 μm L = 10 μm

Mean 0.004118 0.004076 0.004076

Standard deviation 0.004339 0.004418 0.004426

Maximum 0.024668 0.025058 0.0251

Minimum 8.26 x10-7 4.23x10-6 7.7x10-6

Equation (8) is solved using Maatlab on a standard personal

Figure 2. Charge collection probability distribution in xx-z plane computed
using finite difference method. (a) L=1 μm, (b) L=3 μμm, (c) L=10 μm.
computer with the boundary condiitions given in (9) and the
diffusion length of the sample is varied from 1 to 10 μm. A
physical explanation of these bound
dary conditions can be found
in [11]. The result is compared with those obtained using
analytical expression derived in [11] where the infinite
summation of these analytical ex xpression is approximated
using 600 terms.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Fig. 2 shows charge collectionn probability distribution in
the x-z plane for different minoritty carrier diffusion lengths
that was computed using the finite difference method. Fig. 3
shows relative difference in chaarge collection probability
between the results computed using g the proposed method and
usion length equal to 1 μm.
analytical expression when the diffu
The relative difference profile forr other values of diffusion
length have the similar shape as shown in Fig. 3. Table I
shows the statistic summary forr the absolute difference
between the results computed usin ng finite difference method
and the one computed using analy ytical expression derived in
[11]. The maximum absolute diff fference between the result
computed using finite differencee method and analytical
expression is 0.025 and the mean absolute
a difference is about
0.004. It can be observed that the result computed using the
finite difference method has good agreement with the results
computed analytically. The slight difference
d can be explained

641
by the inaccuracies caused by the approximation in both
methods.
From Fig. 2, it can be seen that the maximum or the unity
charge collection probability is located at the collecting
junction and drops to the minimum at the ohmic contact which
is located at the top boundary. This conforms to the theoretical
analysis discussed in [11].
These results also show that the changes in the charge
collection probability distribution are insignificant for L ≥ 5μm.
This suggests that effect of the diffusion length on the charge
collection probability is imperceptible when the diffusion
length is about the dimension of the junction well or larger.
This is true since most carriers will be collected if the diffusion
length is about the junction dimension or larger. When no
recombination takes place, the charge collected will be
independent of the diffusion length.
It can also be observed in Fig. 3 the discrepancy between
the two methods is more pronounced at the two vertical
junction, i.e. x = 0 and x = d. This may be due to the coarse
grid setting at location with a steep charge collection
probability gradient. This can be solved by increasing the
number of grid point at those locations.
It is to be noted that, with this new method, we only define
the junction shape which serves as boundary conditions and the
charge collection probability distribution within the collecting
junction will be produced. This shows that this computational
method is applicable to any junction shape.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a simple and direct method for the
computation of charge collection probability distribution by
utilizing the reciprocity theorem and solving the respective
partial differential equation using the finite difference method.
This model is correct as long as the drift-diffusion model is
valid and can be readily applied to any junction shape.
642
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