Review-Defect Identification with Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy in Narrow Band Gap Semiconductors

Point defects play an important role in present day semiconductor devices. Their ability to influence both the electrical and optical properties of a semiconductor together with the decreasing device size, makes the knowledge of their nature a crucial ingredient in the applicability of a specific semiconductor material. There are very few experimental techniques that alone can identify and quantify point defects. In this review, we show how positron annihilation spectroscopy combined with density functional theory calculations can be used in narrow bandgap semiconductors to identify point defects. Examples are presented of defect identification in both traditional semiconductors (Ge), compound bulk semiconductors (GaSb) and epitaxial layers (GaSb and InN). (c) 2016 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.