Characterization of carrier concentration and stress in GaAs metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor by cathodoluminescence spectroscopy

We have measured the cathodoluminescence spectra around the gate electrode in the cross section of a GaAs metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor with a detector and proposed a new technique to estimate the carrier concentration and stress in electronic devices, using cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. From a comparison between maps of the peak intensity and peak-energy shift, it is found that there is heavy carrier doping in the drain and source regions and that the carrier concentration is about 6 x 10(17) atoms/cm(3). The carrier concentration estimated from the peak-energy shift agrees well with that obtained from the capacitance-voltage method. Furthermore, it is found that there is hardly any carrier doping and that stresses are relaxed at a distance of about 2 mu m from the gate electrode. Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy is a useful technique for estimating the two-dimensional distribution of the carrier concentration and stress in electronic devices within a short amount of time. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.