A fast extrapolation technique for measuring minority-carrier generation lifetime

The transient response of a pulsed MOS capacitor is used to calculate the minority-carrier generation lifetime. For Si substrate with a long lifetime, traditional approaches suffer from the inefficiency of long measurement times. An extrapolation technique presented here significantly reduces the measurement time while still maintaining good accuracy. This method applies to capacitors with constant bulk-generation rates. The linear correlation coefficient of the 1n W-t plot is monitored to ensure accuracy of the measurement technique.