Microwave Modulated Photoluminescence:
A Probe of Semiconductor Surfaces

Dr. Colin Inglefield
Department of Physics
Weber State University

In semiconductor devices, performance is often adversely affected by defects at surfaces and interfaces between semiconductor layers.  For example, the efficiency of a light-emitting diode may be limited by the nonradiative recombination of carriers at a surface.   The rate of this recombination at the surface may be difficult to measure directly.  In this talk I will describe a spectroscopy, microwave modulated photoluminescence, which can be used to measure the surface recombination velocity, a parameter related to the surface recombination rate.  I will show results of experiments on model systems and discuss applications to new families of semiconductor devices.