NONDESTRUCTIVE OPTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR CHARACTERIZING SEMICONDUCTOR-MATERIALS AND DEVICES

In the information age, communications technology depends on the effic ient manufacture of photonic and electronic devices. Optical testing p romotes manufacturing efficiency by controlling the quality of incomin g materials, providing rapid feedback for process improvements, and an alyzing why a product has failed. New, non-destructive optical techniq ues are being used to measure key properties of semiconductor material s and devices. Optical mapping reveals defective regions in various ty pes of wafers, as well as in semiconductor-based lasers and detectors used in AT&Ts lightwave communication systems. New optical testing tec hniques include optical beam-induced reflectance (OBIR), whose signals are used to map silicon, and spatially resolved photoluminescence (SR PL), which performs high-resolution mapping of III-V semiconductor mat erials.