Surface microcharacterization of silicon wafers by the light-beam-induced current technique in the planar configuration and by attenuated total reflection spectroscopy

A light-beam induced current (LBIC) in a planar configuration has been coupled to multiple-internal-reflection (MIR) spectroscopy in order to correlate evidence of the surface recombination velocity changes to contaminants on the silicon surface. We verified preliminarily the chemical evolution of HF-treated silicon surfaces from the hydrophobic to the hydrophilic condition after ageing in the laboratory. We then carried out the analysis of silicon surfaces deliberately contaminated with vlatile organic molecules using both LBIC and MIR. The results show that the absorption of organics at the surface involves a significant effect on the surface recombination rate