Project Report

PROJECT REPORT
Development of Carrier Mobility measurement system

for performance optimisation of PV Solar Cell
By
Ashfaque Alam
DMU Std ID: p10369638
Submitted in fulfillment of the
Dissertation (ENGT5308-2014-x)
to be awarded
MSc (Research)
in
Microelectronics and Nano-technology (MEANT);

Under the supervision of
Dr. Shashi Paul
Dissertation| A Alam
Author Declaration
I declare no part of this thesis has been written by anyone other than me. This thesis
is a sole result of my own work unless otherwise stated with proper reference and
citation.
Page 2 of 74
Preface
If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants.
-
Isaac Newton
I have been immensely motivated, inspired, helped and supported by my nearest and
dearest friends, families and folks. It is simply not possible to thank them enough
and in trying to mention all their names and their contribution would mean
composing another dissertation.
Dr. Shashi Paul, with his continuing and consistent guidance and support, has always
been by my side through times of hardship and success, showing me the right path
and always offering me his priceless advices. Without his all-out support, this
research work would not have been possible. A very special thanks goes to Krishna
for all those assistances in need.
De Montfort University, being the heart of Leicester, had its own charm. Starting
from Queens building, where hours and hours of work has been done, to the printing
and binding shop, each step was made simpler due to easy access of equipment and
information available at all times. The staffs, even during their worst days of the year,
were always friendly and offered to lend a helping hand.
Special recognition should go to my Father, Mother and Brother also my friendsShakhi, Samir, Toufiq and Fahim. Without their consistent encouragement,
inspiration, drive and support through rain and storm, this research would have
never been as fruitful. To them I extend my most cordial gratitude.
Page 3 of 74
Abstract
Photovoltaic solar cells being this days one of the most applauded and inspired
energy sources, are under a lots of research lights. Efficiency has always been a key
issue for photovoltaic energy research and development. This work is a continuation
of many ongoing researches those are aiming for characterisation tools for PV
efficiency optimisation. The tool this thesis has been working about is the carrier
mobility. This work has been carried out by finding the relationship and designing
arrangements for measuring carrier mobility for Solar cell material. This work has
constructed Hall Mobility measurement system from the scratch taking as many
technical, theoretical and experimental reference as possible.
Page 4 of 74
Table of Content
CHAPTER
1
PAGE NO.
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Motivation
1.2
State of Research
1.3
Goals and Objectives
1.4
Project organisation and Thesis outline
10
References
13
LITERATURE REVIEW
15
2.1
Background Research and Scope
15
2.2
Physics behind PV performance and Role of Mobility
16
2.3
Hall effect and Mobility Measurement
20
2.4
Van Der Pauw Resistivity measurement
24
2.5
Experimental setup for VDP Hall Mobility
26
References
28
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
30
3.1
Planning and design
30
3.2
Hardware
32
Sample Holder
32
3.2.2 Current source
34
3.2.3 Multi-Meter
35
3.2.4 Switching Matrix
36
3.2.5 Junction Box
37
3.2.6 Hardware Integration
39
3.2.7 Magnetic arrangement
40
3.2.1
3.3
Software
3.3.1
Program for VDP Resistivity Measurement
43
43
Page 5 of 74
3.3.2
Program for Hall measurement
References
4
48
TEST, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
50
Resistivity Measurements
50
4.1
4.2
4.3
45
4.1.1
Metal
50
4.1.2
P-Type Silicon
57
4.1.3
N-Type Silicon
59
4.1.4
Comparison between Ohmic & Non-Ohmic contacts
61
Hall Voltage Measurements
62
4.2.1
P-Type Silicon
62
4.2.2
N-Type Silicon
64
4.2.3
Metal
66
Hall Mobility Measurements
68
References
70
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
71
5.1
Conclusion
71
5.2
Scope of future developement and research
74
Page 6 of 74
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Motivation
Recently, an interesting news caught my attention. Nepal has officially published its
schedule of Load-shedding for the capital city, in all the national dailies of the
country. [1] Load-shedding refers to a phenomenon of deliberate power-cut takes
place in various energy deprived parts of the world in a scheduled or unscheduled
manner in order to Shed the Load. Being a national of Bangladesh, a country with
one of the worlds lowest per capita energy consumption [2], I am very much
familiar to this matter of sudden power shutdowns in the evening during our homework time as a school boy. Not just then, the energy shortage is still causing the
country a 0.5% loss in GDP and a loss of $1bn in industrial output annually as per
World Bank estimates. [3]. But still the country managed to keep a sound financial
growth for being considered as the next emerging countries after BRICS [4], and
finding its way out to fight back from the energy shortage in order to keep the growth
steady. Research suggests the energy crisis in Bangladesh is largely due to the
countrys over-dependence on limited natural Gas as a fuel and because of the geosocial restraints of the over-populated fertile agricultural land area remaining an
obstacle to large-scale coal mining for energy generation. [5]. Therefore by the side
of initiating nuclear power generation the government has taken steps to implement
a Solar energy road map firmly to break this shackle of energy crisis. By the end of
2015 it aims to gain the capacity of generating at least 500MW of power from the
photovoltaic solar energy [6] starting from just 50MW generation in 2011 [7].
Therefore, Technical capacity building in Photovoltaic technology has been
considered as a key agenda of the Government to improve the energy situation in
Bangladesh [6] and I strongly feel to comply with that. I remember, it used to be an
adventure for us in childhood to pass those 2 hours of load-shedding period thinking
of all the possible, most creative thoughts under the fire lamp or candle light. I am
certain- those memories helped the very first ignition to light up my intent of taking
up this topic for Masters Research.
Page 7 of 74
Furthermore, as a postgraduate student while taking up my taught modules, I have

been notified that there were no prior arrangements to measure Hall Mobility as an
electrical property of material, in the Emerging Technologies Research Centre at De
Montfort University in Leicester. Later discussion with the honourable Head of
EMTERC and my supervisor Dr Shashi Paul revealed the possibilities of contributing
to the research of assuming Thin-film PVs efficiency by measuring Hall mobility.
Therefore this has worked as the ultimate motivation for me to choose this topic
which will enable me to contribute to Thin Film solar cell research, as well as to
construct an arrangement which will help the future students and researchers of
EMTERC in electrical characterisation of material.
1.2 State of Research

Efficiency has always been a key issue for photovoltaic energy research and
development. These researches are mostly concerning the performance of
photovoltaic devices to the techniques and materials used to construct them. Because
of the physical fundamentals and working principle of PV devices, electronic and
optical properties of the materials are radically important to device performance. The
correlations among material growth and processing, electro-optical properties,
efficiency and device performance can be very complex and complicated to
determine without direct measurements of these properties. Therefore precise and
timely measurements of the electro-optical properties for device processing and
analysis are enormously important to provide in order to enable researchers and
manufacturers to enhance and rectify the knowledge required. These troubleshooting
and enhancement of the existing knowledge base are extremely necessary for cost
reduction,
reliability
improvement,
maximisation
of
efficiency,
and
manufacturability enhancement. [8]

Therefore the effort to draw assumptions about the efficiency of PV devices based on
the measured values of carrier mobility an electronic parameter of PV components, is
a topic of many earlier researches. Researchers have lately come up with
observations that in organic PV cells with Schottky contacts, mobility has a direct
proportional relationship with the power efficiency [9]. Thought the analogy does
not comply with that of the ohmic contacts. Again there has been other researches
Page 8 of 74
showing the relationship between mobility and carrier lifetime () product as a

defining criteria for a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells performance assumption [10]. This very
product
()
has
been
used
for
several
other
photo-electronic
quality
characterisations in semiconductor research also [11] [12]. Therefore, carrier

mobility determination has became an important part of modern photovoltaic and
semiconductor research, both individually and as part of the product. However,
for the measurement of the product, mobility along with recombination time in
different material has been measured in several different methods; namely Alpha
particle spectroscopy and pulse shape rise time analysis [13], a-particle spectroscopy
and are based on the Hecht relation [14], Single polarity charge sensing [14], the
magneto-resistance method, the equilibrium charge carrier extraction method, the
conductivity/concentration (/n) method, the charge extraction in a linearly
increasing voltage (CELIV) method, the surface acousto-electric traveling wave
(SAW)
method
[15]
and
so
on.
But the most commonly used method for mobility measurement is the Hall Effect
measurement system which is often used by the researchers for its ease of set-up and
cost-efficiency. At the same time, this is a method that has been very widely used for
decades, rectified, discussed and verified. Moreover, in order to maintain and
enhance accuracy there has been different kinds of technical and physical
improvisation went on for hall measurement system.
1.3 Goals and Objectives

The primary objective of this work is to develop and implement a full system for Hall
measurement, which will consist of arrangements for both manual and computer
operated automatic system. The system has to be constructed in such a way so that it
remains open to any hardware or software related modification necessary. From the
hardware point of view, the major objective will be to make the arrangement capable
of measuring different types, shapes and thickness of samples. The safety of the
system is another concern that will be looked at- therefore all the electronic
connections will be planned to keep short free, and leakage free, in order to ensure
safety for the operator as well as for the longevity of the apparatus used.
Page 9 of 74
From the Software point of view, the primary objective is to develop an interface
which will make the system work by the operators commands such as applying a
range of current and measuring the corresponding voltage. Firstly the development
of the software will aim to enable the Hall measurement system to measure I-V Data
for any measured sample and being able to automatically switch the connections
necessary. Later the aim will be to develop the software in a way that will calculate
the necessary parameters by itself. One major objective will be to keep the software
open for necessary editing, but assisting with less complex user interface.
The final aim of the project will be, being able to measure the Hall mobility of any
material sample with a high confident measurement. In order to do so, the other
parameters necessary have to be made possible to calculate, using the same system.
1.4 Project organisation and Thesis outline

In order to make the execution of the project easier and planning effortless, the
whole project has been broken down into several work packages and sub-tasks.
Therefore, for the organisation of the project the announced deadlines and
milestones have been considered carefully. Considering all the possible tasks and
subtasks the project breakdown structure prepared for this thesis is given below:
Page 10 of 74
Thesis
Research
- Idea
Generation
Hardware
Construction
- Planning
Software
Development
- Learning
language
- Designing
- Investigation
- Testing
- Presentation
and feedback
- Supervisor
meetings
- Delivery
- Building
Algorithm
- Programming
-Testing
System
Integration
- Integration or
hardware and
software.
- Testing the
overall manual
system.
-Testing the
overall automatic
system
Experiment
Finalising
Report
- Planning
- Writing
- Resistivity
measurement
- Revision
- Submission
- Hall
measurement
-Viva
- Analysis
- Troubleshooting
Figure 1.1 Project break-down structure
As per the working plan above there had been a detailed gantt chart maintained and
updated throughout the whole project lifetime. The followed gantt chart has been
enclosed at the end of the thesis in Appendix 1. The thesis outline is as follows:
Chapter 1
This is the ongoing chapter which has briefly described about my
motivation to take up this research, focused on related current research activities

going on, my aims and objectives about this project and finally how the project has
been planned to reach those aims.
Chapter 2
This is the literature review describing all the theoretical backgrounds
and technical bases of the research. This has explained how the carrier mobility may
effect PV performance and therefore the methods to determine that. This has
described the hall measurement in further details and the experimental
arrangements more understandably.
Chapter 3
The whole project has taken care of several hardware and software
tasks those have been necessarily integrated together in the end and tested. This
chapter has individually described all those hardware construction steps, apparatus
operating principles and necessary physics behind them. The required software
development process, algorithms have also been described in this part. This chapter
Page 11 of 74
has finally explained the all important part of integration of these two parts, testing &
troubleshooting efforts to validate them and forecasting of possible measurement
glitches or advisable measurement methodologies.
Chapter 4
This is the most analytical part of the thesis that describes about the
main experimentation parts of the project, once all the hardware-software

integrations are done and the system started to measure necessary electric
parameters. In order to check the correctness and validity of the system in this
chapter we have taken some commercial sample with known resistivity range and
measured resistivity of them to match outcome with the given values. Hall
measurements of different materials have also been tested and analysed here in this
chapter. Moreover, the deviation from standard or given values from the measured
values have been tried to explain in this section. This has also discussed about
possible glitches of the system and future experimentation methods for PV
performance characterisation.
Any interesting observations made in this section has been discussed and further
analysed in at the end of every experiment. Measurements those have not come out
really good have also been discussed here following the completion of each
measurement.
Chapter 5
This is the concluding chapter of my thesis. This has a summarised
mention of the measured parameters in order to help the readers to draw some
decision about the overall project. This chapter is also of enormous importance
because it has discussed about the possibilities of future research on this topic as well
as discussed about further possible developments for the improvement of the
constructed system.
Page 12 of 74
References
1. Load-shedding scheduling for Kathmandu, NepalNews.com, Available at:
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2012/others/Load-shedding.pdf [Accessed at
07.10, on 27 August 2014]
2. Mazumder, P., Marathe, A., (2007) Causality relationship between electricity
consumption and GDP in Bangladesh, Energy Policy, Volume 35, Issue 1, January
2007, pp. 395402
3. Kamrul, H., (2013) Energy crisis: Cooperation is the key, Dhaka Tribune,
published: 21:50, August 15
4. Briant L., Marcilly J., (2014) Which emerging countries will take over from the
BRICS?, Completed on 14th March 2014, Panorama, Spring 2014, p. 01
5. Imam B., (2011) Energy Crisis and Potential in Bangladesh, Strategic Analysis,
Volume 35, Issue 2, Published online: 08 Feb 2011, pp. 248-264
6. 500MW Solar Power Programme, Power division, Ministry of Power, Energy and
Mineral Resources, Government of the Peoples Republic of the Bangladesh
7. Power and Energy Sector Road Map : An Update, Finance Division, Ministry of
Finance, Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, June 2011, p. 49
8. Electro-Optical Characterization, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL),
Available at: http://www.nrel.gov/pv/measurements/electro_optical.html [Accessed
at 13.20, on 10 September 2014]
9. Shieh J. et al, (2010), The effect of carrier mobility in organic solar cells,
Journal of applied physics, p. 107
10. Beck N. et al, (1996), Mobility lifetime productA tool for correlating a-Si:H
lm properties and solar cell performances, Journal of Applied Physics, American
Institute of Physics, p. 9361
11. Crandall R. S., Balberg I., (1992), Mobilitylifetime products in hydrogenated
amorphous silicon, Applied Physics Letters
12. Sellin P. J. et al., (2005), Drift Mobility and Mobility-Lifetime Products in
CdTe:Cl Grown by the Travelling Heater Method, IEEE transactions on nuclear
science, vol. 52, no. 6, december 2005, p. 3074
13. Xu Y. et al, (2008), Comparison of the x-ray spectroscopy response and charge
transport properties of semi-insulating In/Al doped CdZnTe crystals, Journal of
applied physics, p. 105
Page 13 of 74
14. Boucher Y. A. et al, (2012), New measurement technique for the product of the
electron mobility and mean free drift time for pixelated semiconductor detectors,
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, pp 671 (2012) 15
15. Wallace J. U., (2009), Carrier Mobility in Organic Charge Transport
Materials: Methods of Measurement, Analysis, and Modulation, Edmund A. Hajim
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester,
New York, USA, p. 12
Page 14 of 74
Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.1 Background Research and Scope
Mobility has been considered as a defining parameter in solar cell performance for
quite a long time. Especially for solar cells made of low mobility materials [1-3]. By
saying low mobility material, one can indicate solar cells made of a-Si:H [3-6],
organic or polymer materials [7] or dye-sensitized porous metal-oxide membranes
[8, 9] One of the reasons low mobility materials are subject of researches is, from
our conventional way of understanding, generated excitons from photon absorption
in low mobility solar cells should take longer to reach electrodes and contribute to
the net current [2], moreover the reduction of maximum useful thickness of the solar
cells made of low mobility materials can also be affecting the PV performance [3].
Though in the field of organic photovoltaic researches it has been argued sometimes
that lower mobility organic materials may avoid specific types of loss mechanisms
therefore can be preferred for better cell performance [10], but later research
counter argued that low mobility may help to mitigate a particular loss mechanism in
a certain material, but it should be possible to find organic materials to give higher
solar cell efficiency, and the common characteristic is that they should be high
mobility, highly ordered materials [2]. Under these circumstances, one may wonder
the necessity of researching on the low mobility materials for solar cell devices. But
the reality is materials like a-Si:H [11] or Orgainc materials [12,13] have different
possibilities for, easier fabrication and much cost effective mass production than
those of the markets dominating PV materials. Therefore low mobility materials are
being subject to growing researches to make them more efficient and higher in
manufacturability.
In case of a-Si:H thin film solar cell the low mobility characteristics have been tried
to compensate by the use of an intrinsic layer in the middle, so that the depletion
region spreads across the intrinsic region and instead of the transporting the excitons
due to the junction electric field, the excitons get created inside the electric field thus
get collected easily [3]. Therefore the intrinsic layer plays a significant role in the
performance of a-Si:H thin film solar cells. Researchers have discussed that the
Page 15 of 74
performance of a-Si:H can be optimised and improved by using intrinsic layer of

higher carrier mobility [14]. Suggestions have been made that, if for intrinsic layer
the amorphous silicon material used has a higher mobility-lifetime () product, the
efficiency tends to be higher for the PV cell. However this product has not been
achieved itself as a product rather these parameters are individually needed to be
measured. So, in case of amorphous Si thin films if it is possible to evaluate and
determine the properties such as carrier concentration etcetera of higher mobility
intrinsic layers then it will be supportive to the future manufacturing probability.
Researches have also revealed that the mobility of extrinsic silicon may noticeably
differ based on different dopants used. Its found that electron mobility in As-doped
silicon is significantly lower than in Phosphorous-doped silicon for carrier
concentrations higher than 1019cm-3 [15]. Since higher carrier concentration tends to
indicate a low mobility [2], this can be worked out in further research for low
mobility material. Because, if it is possible to use different dopants in different
concentrations on a-Si:H and a measured chart of mobility be prepared- that may be
used as an useful tool for future research and manufacturing. In that way,
optimisation of mobility for thin films in earlier deposition stages can make better
and more efficient use of resources.
Therefore in order to dig deeper into the mobility optimisation and different
techniques of it, we will discuss the required physical phenomenas and technical
specifications in the later sections.
2.2 Physics behind PV performance and the role of

Mobility
Photovoltaic solar cells are mostly constructed of semiconductor p-n junctions
combined with conductive front and back contacts as anode and cathode for current
transport. PV devices basic working principle and performance depends vastly on
three different mechanisms namely- excitation mechanism, transport mechanism
and loss mechanism. [16, 17] Since it is a known fact that flow of current
fundamentally indicates to the transport of charge carriers- therefore transport
mechanisms such as diffusion and drift are important for PV devices. Consequently
Page 16 of 74
to enable the transport mechanisms of transporting charge carriers there requires

the excitation mechanisms such as- illuminating light on the PV device in order to
generate electron-hole pair capable of flowing current. Adding donor or acceptor
impurities into intrinsic semiconductor, a process known as doping is used to create
built-in electric field Besides these mechanisms, there inevitably come the loss
mechanisms such as recombination or scattering which are responsible for
demeaning the PV efficiency. [17]
Therefore in order to work on the photovoltaic efficiency it is really important to
investigate the loss mechanisms properly. In order to explain the effect of loss
mechanisms on a PV device further, I would like to discuss the concept of Quantum
PV efficiency. Ideally when a photon of specific energy package from sunlight (or, any
other light) is absorbed on the surface of PV cell, there should always be at least one
electron-hole pair generated. Once a photon has been absorbed and has generated
an electron-hole pair, these charges must be separated and collected at the junction.
Now what the idea of Quantum efficiency says is- the ratio of the number of charge
carriers collected by the solar cell to the number of photons of a given energy
incident on the solar cell should ideally be 1:1, in other words the Quantum efficiency
of the solar cell should ideally be 100%. [18] Though in case of Multiple exciton
generation (MEG) this can theoretically be more than 100%, since one incident
photon may generate two or more electron-hole pairs. [19]
The ideal quantum efficiency graph has a square shape (figure 2.1), where the QE
value is fairly constant across the entire spectrum of wavelengths measured.
However, in real world the Efficiency of any PV device does not exhibit 100%
conversion. The reason behind that is, the external quantum efficiency for most solar
cells is reduced due to recombination effects. The same mechanisms which affect the
collection probability also affect the external quantum efficiency.
Page 17 of 74
Figure 2.1 Quantum efficiency of a Silicon solar cell [18]
As the figure 2.1 depicts, front surface recombination affects carriers generated
near the surface and vice versa for the rear surface; again because of blue light being
absorbed very close to the surface. Likewise, green light gets absorbed in the bulk of a
solar cell and low diffusion length affects the collection probability from the solar cell
bulk thus reduces QE in the green portion of the spectrum.
Therefore the discussion above makes it clear that PV loss mechanisms affect the
Quantum efficiency as well as the bulk efficiency of any PV cell significantly. Hence
for PV devices analogy can be drawn that, the more the recombination the shorter
the lifetime of the electron hole pair, the less chances of charge carriers getting
collected by the electrodes. Here it needs to be noted that, carrier lifetime is an idea
closely related to the transport mechanism called diffusion. The diffusion length is
the average distance a charge carrier can travel and is a function of lifetime of the
excited charge carriers. [16] The diffusion length and the lifetime are related with a
fairly simple equation:
L = (D);
(Equation 2.1)
Where, L= Diffusion length, D= Diffusion coefficient, = Carrier lifetime.

Now it is time to discuss the other transport mechanism for PV that plays equally
important role as diffusion; drift. As the diffusion is driven by the density gradients
of the impurities- assumption can be made that the charge carriers diffuse until the
Page 18 of 74
point when the electron and hole densities are equally distributed over the p-region
and the n-region. But in practicality that never happens because of an electric filed
created due to the diffusion of minority carriers into both the regions. This electric
filed only allows the carriers to diffuse a certain length when in thermal equilibrium.
As a result there is a potential velocity created into the p-n junction on the charge
carrier, due to the e-field. This is called drift velocity. Drift velocity refers to the
average velocity a charge carrier may attain due to an electric field. And the acting
drift velocity per unit electric field is known as the entity- Carrier mobility (). So,
Mobility is the ratio of the velocity to the electric field and indicates how quickly a
charge carrier can move into a solar cell. [20] Since for a solar cell to be more
efficient, it is necessary that the created transmittable carriers due to photon
absorption travel to the contacts and get collected before the carriers recombine with
no net contribution to cell current, the Carrier mobility () is a parameter can also
indicate the efficiency of PV cell.
Till now it is clear that the efficiency of PV Solar cell proportionally depends on these
two discussed parameters, Carrier lifetime () and Carrier mobility (). Thus the
mobilitylifetime product () is considered as a performance indicator for
Photovoltaic devices. Therefore it can be said that, for a certain material with
constant carrier lifetime (), efficiency will always increase if the Mobility ()
increases. Although in PV manufacturing R&D the mobility of bulk silicon is already
well understood, as per discussions in the previous section- mobility measurement is
still significant for performance optimisation of various semiconductor based
devices. Moreover, improvisations into silicon structures are also creating newer
significance every day; such as manufacturers often add germanium to silicon in the
strain lattice to get higher mobility. [21] As well as, todays PV materials are no
longer just bulk materials; rather thin-films are grabbing vast attention as well as
discussed in the previous section. And for the fabrication of thin-films if it is possible
to determine mobility of some material just after one deposition and estimate the
possible efficiency- then it may potentially save a good amount of time, effort and
expenditure. Therefore according to the discussion in Chapter 1 (1.2) in case of our
research here we have taken Hall effect system as our aimed method of mobility
measurement.
Page 19 of 74
2.3 Hall effect and Mobility measurement

There are a number of methods been practiced for mobility measurement of
material. Some of them have already been mentioned in the previous Chapter. The
most widely used method for mobility measurement is the Hall effect measurement
system, and we have chosen to construct one. Before moving to the construction, lets
understand the physics behind it.
Dr. Edwin Hall in 1879 while approaching for his doctorate at The Johns Hopkins
University [22] noticed a phenomenon when a magnet was positioned as its field
facing vertically towards a thin rectangular gold plate of which current was flowing
through perpendicular to the magnetic field. A voltage appeared between the
opposite edges of that gold plate. This remark took him forward to come up with the
idea of Hall Effect. This effect can be described by the help of Lorentz force.
Figure 2.2 Conductive sheet

with no magnetic field applied
[22]
Figure 2.3 Hall Effect in the

conductive sheet [22]
According to the Lorentz force equation, if a charged particle (carrier/electron/hole)

is placed in an electromagnetic field, the resultant force active on the particle can be
expressed as:
= 0 + 0 ( );
(Equation 2.2)
Page 20 of 74
This equation represents two fundamental parts- one is the response of a charged
particle in an electric field and the other is the response of a charged particle in a
magnetic field.
In case of electric field the positively charged particles flow towards the field
direction and feel a force proportional to both the magnitude of the charge (q 0) and
the strength of the field ( = 0 ). And vice versa for that of the negative charge
carriers.
Again in case of magnetic field- the charged particles do not experience any force
until they are moving. So, the applied magnetic field only effects when there is a
velocity involved to the particles. Therefore the force will be felt by the particles
towards a direction which is a function of the direction of charged particles
movement due to e-field (opposite to the conventional current direction) and the
direction of the magnetic field [ = 0 ( )]. Figure 2.4 illustrates the charge
movement due to magnetic field:
Figure 2.4 Charge movement due to magnetic field
Now, equation 2.2 indicates that other than the magnitude of charge (q 0) all the
parameters involved in the resultant force are vector quantities. Means they can have
independent components in x, y or z directions. Therefore considering the hall
arrangement mentioned in figure 2.5, developing an equilibrium where the
magnetic force pushing the charge carriers aside is balanced by E-force pushing them
back to the middle, the resultant for will be zero. Therefore from the eq 2.2 it can be
written as:
q0EH + q0v B = 0;
(Equation 2.3)
Page 21 of 74
Figure 2.5 Hall arrangement sample dimensions and reference axis
Where, EH is the Hall electric field across the sample, the value of which solving the
Eq 2.3 depicts,
|EH| = v B;
(Equation 2.4)
Now for a sample similar to figure 2.5 assuming it to be uniform and Hall Voltage
measuring probes to be placed across the width (w), from Eq 2.4 the Hall voltage will
be given by:
VH = wvB;
(Equation 2.5)
Here the carrier drift velocity is an entity which represents the average velocity of a
charge carrier; therefore as there is an increase in current (I), the push felt by a
carrier towards that direction will also increase, thus velocity will increase. As well
as, considering carrier density is constant the velocity is inversely proportional to the
cross sectional area (A) of the sample. Therefore carrier density (n) will also be
inversely proportional to the velocity because of the increasing number of carriers
will increase possibilities of impurity scattering, hence decrease average velocity. So
the drift velocity can be written asv=
(Equation 2.6)
Now, combining Eq 2.5 and Eq 2.6 the expression for Hall Voltage is found as
follows:
Page 22 of 74
VH =
[ Cross-sectional area, A = w.t]
(Equation 2.7)
Again, the idea of conductivity () is something which depicts the current density (J)
per unit electric field (E). Where current density is the product of amount of charge
in particular velocity. Therefore is can be expressed as;
= J/E
= nq0v/E
= nqoE/E
= nq0
[ Carrier Mobility, = v/E]
Resistivity, = 1/ = 1/ nq0
(Equation 2.8)
Now, combining Eq 2.7 and Eq 2.8, the expression for the value of the Hall Voltage
(VH) is found as follows:
|VH| =
(Equation 2.9)
Therefore the expected value of Hall mobility that we are looking for is,
=
| |
(Equation 2.10)
Here noticeable is that though in ideal condition the polarity of Hall Voltage found
from any sample should carry significance in case of assuming the type of material,
but for the mobility measurement as Hall mobility just indicates the majority carrier
mobility for , it is just the magnitude of potential difference that matters. This will be
further discussed in the later sections when relevant.
Page 23 of 74
2.4 Van Der Pauw resistivity measurement

From Equation 2.10, for a specific current carrying sample of known thickness under
a known magnetic field if the Hall voltage is measured, the only parameter necessary
to calculate the value of Hall Mobility is its resistivity (). Resistivity is a factor
which indicates how resistive a sample of specific shape can be. From an alternative
form of Ohms law this topic can be more clearly described. For a sample similar to
the one illustrated in figure 2.5 resistance of the sample is proportional to its length
(L) and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area. Therefore according to
Ohms law,
R L/A
R=
= R . t
(Equation 2.11)
Here, is the constant called resistivity. Now noticeable is, in this way one can only
calculate resistivity of sample that has a regular geometric shape with specific length
and width. But how about a sample of arbitrary shape? For the resistivity
measurement of samples with arbitrary shape, physicist L J Van Der Pauw proposed
a new method back in 1958. [23] He showed how the resistivity of a flat sample of
arbitrary shape can be determined without knowing the current pattern if the
following conditions are met: 1. the contacts are at the circumference of the sample
and are sufficiently small, 2. the sample is uniformly thick, and 3. sample does not
contain isolated holes. [24]
Figure 2.6 Lamella type VDP Hall sample
Now for the sample of figure 2.6, the resistivity given by Van der pauw is:
Page 24 of 74
= ln (2)
21 ,34 + 32 ,41
2
.t
(Equation 2.12)
Where, R21,34 = V34/I21 and R32,41 = V41/I32. To be noted that, V34 = V3 V4 is the
potential difference between contact 3 and 4. For a better confident measurement the
Eq 2.12 can also be improvised as follows:
= ln (2)
+
2
.t
(Equation 2.13)
Where, RA = (21,34 + 43,12 )/2 and RB = (32,41 + 14,23 )/2. Now, F is called the Van
der pauw correction factor which is a function of the ratio, R A/RB. In a circular or
square shape sample this ratio is supposed to be equal to 1. Therefore F should also
be 1. But for sample with arbitrary shape the F factor satisfies the relation below:

+
= ln(2) arcosh
exp ( 2)/
2
(Equation 2.14)
The Eq 2.14 is plotted in figure 2.7 below
Figure 2.7 VDP correction factor F, plotted against RA/RB
Therefore after measuring RA & RB as per the described arrangement and calculating
F factor from Eq 2.14, the VDP resistivity is measured from the Eq 2.13.
Page 25 of 74
2.5 Experimental set-up for VDP Hall Mobility

The conventional Hall voltage measurement set up is not an inefficient one, rather
very effective till date- therefore as described earlier the hall measurement setup can
be kept as it is. But some considerations to make are- theoretically though the hall
voltage under no magnetic field should be zero, but as per previous experimental
arrangements [25, 26] suggest there can be existence of a Common Mode Voltage
(CMV) caused by possible grounding issue, and can result a non-zero voltage under
no magnetic field. But this voltage is considered in a point of zero potential
difference. Since the concept of Hall voltage indicates to the magnitude of the voltage
under magnetic flux, the measured voltage from the multimeter cannot be directly
considered as Hall Voltage. Therefore, In order to calculate the true Hall voltage, we
have to find the difference between voltages measured with and without the magnetic
field. This can be done more accurately if Hall voltages are calculated with the
positive magnetic field and with the negative magnetic field. Both the voltage
differences should be equal in magnitude from the zero potential voltage with no
magnetic field, but reversed in polarity. Then dividing the voltage difference between
these two by 2 will give the actual value of Hall Voltage. But for an even greater
measurement accuracy, instead of taking just two measurements, previous
researchers suggested to take 8 different combinations of measurements.
Therefore, once the VDP resistivity is measured according to the above arrangement
the rest of the measurement left for mobility determination is the Hall Voltage (V H),
which can be done by the set up illustrated below in figure 2.8 & figure 2.9 with
high confidence.
Page 26 of 74
Figure 2.8 Hall Voltage measurement arrangements for B+ Magnetic field (a) I13, V24P &
I31, V42P; (b) I42, V13P & I24, V31P
Figure 2.9 Hall Voltage measurement arrangements for B- Magnetic field (a) I13, V24N &
I31, V42N; (b) I42, V13N & I24, V31N
From the arrangements above the Hall voltages measured will be as follows:
VA = V24P V24N
VB = V42P V42N
VC = V13P V13N
VD = V31P V31N
So the average Hall Voltage will be,
VH = (VA + VB + VC + VD)/8
(Equation 2.15)
Page 27 of 74
References
1. Reichman J., (1981), Collection efficiency of low mobility solar cells, Applied
Physics Letters, Vol 38, Issue 4, p. 251
2. Street R. A., (2008), Carrier mobility, structural order, and solar cell efficiency of
organic heterojunction devices, Applied Physics Latters, Vol 93, p. 133308
3. Schiff E. A., (2003), Low-mobility solar cells: a device physics primer with
application to amorphous silicon, Solar energy materials and Solar cells, Vol 78, pp.
567-570
4. S. Guha, R.A. Street (Ed.), Technology and Applications of Amorphous Silicon,
Springer, Berlin, 1999, pp. 252305.
5. C.R. Wronski, D.E. Carlson, M. D. Archer, R. Hill (Eds.), Clean Electricity
from Photovoltaics, World Scientic, Singapore, 2001.
6. X. Deng, E.A. Schiff, A. Luque, S. Hegedus (Eds.), Handbook of Photovoltaics
Engineering, Wiley, Chichester, in press.
7. K. Petritsch et al, (2000) Solar Energy Material and Solar Cells 61 (2000), p. 63
8. Gratzel M., (2001) Pure Applied Chemistry, Volume 73 (2001), p. 459. .
9. N. Kopidakis et al, (2000) Journal of Physical Chemistry B., Vol 104, p. 3930.
10. Koster L. J. A. et al, (2006), Ultimate efficiency of polymer/fullerene bulk
heterojunction solar cells, Applied Physics Letters, Vol 88, Issue 09, p. 093511
11. Low cost thin film poly-silicon solar cells, (2005), Plasma Quest Ltd, URN
Number: 05/700
12. Goh C. and McGehee M. D., (2005), Organic Semiconductors for Low-Cost
Solar Cells, Cutting-Edge research in Engineering, Release: Winter 2005, Volume 35,
Number 4
13. Sheih J. T. et al, (2010), The effect of carrier mobility in organic solar cells,
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 107, 084503
14. Beck N. et al, (1996), Mobility lifetime productA tool for correlating a-Si:H
lm properties and solar cell performances, Journal of Applied Physics, American
Institute of Physics, p. 9361
15. Masetti G., (1983), Modeling of carrier mobility against carrier concentration in
arsenic-, phosphorus-, and boron-doped silicon, Electron Devices, IEEE
Transactions, Vol 30, Issue 7, p. 764
16. Smets A., (2013), Working Principle of a Semiconductor Based Solar Cell, 2.6
Semiconductor Junction, Week 2, Delft University of Technology, slide 20
Page 28 of 74
17. Smets A., (2013), Working Principle of a Semiconductor Based Solar Cell, 2.5
Semiconductor Junction, Week 2, Delft University of Technology, slide 02 15
18. Honsberg C., and Bowden S., Quantum efficiency, Chapter 4: Solar cell
operation, Ideal Solar Cell, pveducation.org
19. Beard M. C. et al, (2007), Multiple Exciton Generation in Colloidal Silicon
Nanocrystals, Nano Lett., Publication Date (Web): July 24, 2007, 7 (8), pp 2506
2512
20. Lindemuth J., (2012), Hall mobility measurement of solar cell material,
Semiconducting materials, pp 36-39
21. Green R., (2011), Hall Effect Measurements in Materials Characterization,
Keithley Instruments, Inc., pp 2-3
22. Alam A., (2012), What is the hall effect?, Brief discussion on Hall effect,
Emerging Technology Research Centre, DMU, Leicester, UK, p. 2
23. Pauw L. J. V. D., (1958) A Method of Measuring the Resistivity and Hall
Coefficient on Lamellae of Arbitrary Shape, Phil. Tech. Rev. 20, Aug. 1958. pp.220
224.
24. Schroder D. K., (2006), Semiconductor, material and device characterization,
3rd edition, Chapter 8: mobility, Wiley-interscience, Hoboken, New jersey, USA, p.
470
25. Basic Hall effect sensors, Chapter 2: Hall Effect Sensor, Hall effect sensing and
application, micro switch Sensing and Control, Honeywell Inc, Illinois 61032, USA,
p. 04
26. Hall Measurements, Lab iii. Conductivity and the hall effect, Electronic devices
laboratory, University of Texas at Dallas, USA, p. 13
Page 29 of 74
Chapter 3
System Integration
3.1 Planning and Design
The theoretical formulation and physical principles behind hall mobility
measurement have been well understood and described in earlier sections. Now in
order to enable us measuring Hall mobility a well constructed physical model is also
required. Moreover, the arrangements needed for Van der pauw resistivity
measurement are also essential. Therefore while planning for the overall
measurement system, this has been considered carefully. The arrangements have
been done in a way so that it enables us to measure both the parameters in a same
framework without making significant physical change in the model. It is now clear
that Hall voltage measurement for material samples require a four probe
arrangement which does not just allow us to measure the hall voltage at specific
current supply, but also holds the sample stably without damaging the sample
surface. Same goes for the Van der pauw four probes resistivity measurement
arrangement as well. Thought having different physical bases of different probe
arrangements in both the systems, from the modelling point of view the only
difference between the Hall voltage arrangement and the VDP resistivity
arrangement is the presence of applied magnetic field in one and its absence in the
other. Therefore considering these conditions the design plan has been formulated in
a way so that the model can hold the experimented sample firmly in required
arrangement as well as allows us to measure the sample both in presence of a
magnetic field and in absence of it. Hence the planned design for our arrangement is
presented as follows:
Page 30 of 74
Figure 3.1 Schematic of measurement frame with magnetic arrangement
The schematic above has been designed according to the dimensions of decided magnetic bars and the sample holders physical
feature which have been discussed in the later sections. Here the materials used for different parts of the frame have also been
mentioned for construction simplicity. The reasons behind using different materials in different parts have also been discussed in
the
later
sections.
Page 31 of 74
3.2 Hardware
This section describes about the construction, use and specifications of several
different hardware parts in the whole system and discussed the reasoning behind
using them. For understanding possible measurement glitches and troubleshooting,
this part is really necessary to go through and analyse.
3.2.1 Sample Holder

Since we have already discussed that holding the sample steadily in a required
arrangement, is a condition of immense importance in order to carry out VDP
resistivity measurements as well as Hall voltage measurements, the first hardware
part that has been analysed and attempted to construct was the sample holder.
Hence, acquiring ideas from previous measurement configurations [1] I decided to
design the sample holder consisting of four conducting probes on a PCB in order to
enable it carrying current in specific direction. Therefore, primarily a sample holder
suitable for samples of 2cm x 2cm dimension or lower had been planned; PCB had
been designed accordingly using Eagle 6.5.0 PCB designing tool and necessary
engagement-disengagement systems had been mounted after printing the PCB layout
as figure 3.2 suggests.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 3.2 (a) Planning, (b) PCB Schematic and (c) construction of first sample holder
Page 32 of 74
But later for ensuring accuracy of measurements, we have decided to use a sample
which is more commercially used and allows us to measure a range of shapes and
sizes of samples. Therefore a VDP four probe measurement sample holder from
Ecopia. The holder serial number is SPCB 01c15. Further specifications are as follows
[2]:
Figure 3.3 Final

commercial Sample
holder with measurable
thickness: Less than
2mm & Whole diameter:
10mm
As per the mentioned features, this holder is good to measure OLED samples, and
suitable for measuring optical properties as well [2]. The probes correspond to the
contacts namely A, B, C and D. G is for grounding. Now, for our measurement
requirements, the contacts have been examined and determined which one
corresponds to which probe as follows:
Figure 3.4 Probe specification for corresponding PCB contacts.
Now that we have the sample holder finalised there comes the necessity of
connecting it safely and stably to the other apparatuses which will enable the sample
to carry current and measure voltage through specified probes as required. In order
to do that, there must be physical connections made with the sample holder. This
could have been done by soldering wires with the contacts which would have made
the connections vulnerable and damaged the holder if mistaken. Therefore we opted
Page 33 of 74
to find out some solder less way for making connections with the holder. Repetitive
discussions with electronics laboratory helped us finding out the option of using edge
connector. [2] Edge card connectors are stable, safe and solder-less way of
connecting card-type PCB layouts and is widely used in internal PC configurations as
well.
Figure 3.5 Edge connector for sample holder
So after careful consideration and measuring the holders thickness, pitch and widththe edge connector decided to be used is: 5-5530843-0, detailed datasheet is
available in Appendix B. To be noted that the corresponding serial number of edge
connector pins to the sample holder contacts are: A to Pin # 3, B to Pin # 4, C to Pin
#5 and D to Pin # 6. The ground (G) has been spared unconnected as because the
junction box used (discussed in later section) has been built as metal enclosure likely
to be acting as a common ground.
3.2.2 Current Source

A fundamental Hall measurement configuration is likely to consist of a constantcurrent source which depends on the sample resistance. [3] For material samples
with high conductivity, the source must be able to give output at least from milliamp
range. But on the contrary, for high resistivity samples such as semi-insulating GaAs
with a resistivity nearly around 107 ohmcm [3], a sourcing range as low as 1nA may
be necessary. Moreover for an improved and accurate measurement process these
sources are better being able to get automated. In other word programmable, lowlevel current sources are highly anticipated by researchers, designers, evaluation
Page 34 of 74
engineers. [4] Therefore for our arrangement the current source we have used is
Keithley 220 Programmable Current Source which can give a 0.5pA to 101mA DC
output, 1014 output resistance, 1V to 105V programmable voltage compliance.
[4] Voltage compliance is an idea which indicates to the maximum voltage a current
source will go up to in order to supply programmed current. [5]
One very important information for later works with Keithley 220 Programmable
Current Source is, this current source uses an insulated female triax connector which
is located on its rear panel for signal output. [6] Therefore in our case, in order to
connect the output to the required Junction box (described in later sections) we have
used a triax to banana cable for current supply.
3.2.3 Multimeter
For both the measurements that we are aiming for, measuring voltage in respect to
applied current is an essential task. Literature suggests, depending on the level of
material resistivity under test, the voltmeter used must be able to make accurate
measurements anywhere from 1 microvolt to 100V. [2] Even for relatively high
carrier concentration material, considering Eq 2.7 discussed previously, samples of
around 300um under 3000 gauss may depict hall voltage less than 1mV. Therefore, a
voltmeter or multimeter is required for our configuration which can read voltage
outputs from sample to a low level. Similarly to the current source, this is also better
to be a programmable one for accuracy concern. Therefore we have decided to use
Keithley 195A Digital Multi-Meter for our arrangement. Although according to the
instrumentation manual of the device, the manual range of DC voltage the 195A
multimeter is capable of measuring is 20mV 2000V with a 100nV resolution [7];
but depending on a number of previous user experiences and and third party data
sheets [8] [9], the multimeter is sensitive to down to 100nV in auto range. When in
the autoranging mode, the instrument automatically selects the best range to
measure the applied input signal. Here important connection information is required
to remember that- the multimeter is connected to the Junction box through the front
panel VOLTS OHMS HI and LO terminals. These terminals accept banana plugs,
spade lugs, or bare wires for easy connections. [7]
Page 35 of 74
3.2.4 Switching Matrix

As per Eq 2.13 and figure 2.9 discussed previously it is clear that for both the VDP
resistivity and Hall configuration in order to ensure accurate and confident
measurements there needs to be a number of different probe combinations been
used. Therefore A switch matrix is a must to eliminate the need for manual
connections/ disconnections between probe contacts. We hereby used Keithley 7001
Switching System for that purpose which consists of a 7152 Current Matrix Card.
This switching system used here possesses a matrix style technique consisting of
columns and rows (figure 3.6). By shorting (closing) the intersecting points as
necessary one can switch the connections through which a particular signal is
transmitting. Since from the device instruction [10] it is said that there are 4 rows
and 5 columns available in the first slot of matrix card, and column number 3 does
not correspond to any of the rows, therefore we decided to avoid column number 3
for our case.
(a)
(b)
Figure 3.6 (a) Schematic and (b) physical connectors of Model 7152 Matrix Card
Now the matrix card is connected to low noise triax cables for external connectivity.
Each triax cable is labelled and corresponds to a row or column as follow:
Page 36 of 74
Triax #1 = Row 1 or Column 1

Triax #2= Row 2 or Column 2
Triax #3 = Column 3
Understanding these internal device connections, the setup that we have planned for
our measurement is:
Figure 3.7 Resistivity test configuration
3.2.5 Junction Box

An existing junction box previously designed, which was capable of manual
resistivity measurement has been re-designed and modified in order to allow it to
integrate all the hardware componets together in one single junction. This junction
box has 4 Banana female connectors for connecting to the current source (Keithley
220) and DMM (Keithley 195a); interconnected with 4 BNC female connectors which
are connected to the rows of the Keithley 7001 Switching matrix.
Page 37 of 74
Here to be noted that, in order to connect triax male

connectors to the BNC coax female connectors, I had
to carefully consider the standard Coax-to-triax
conversion mechanism. [11] If noticed from the
figure 3.7 it will be clear that in our case, for the
current source and multimeter to communicate it is
just the inner conductor of the triax which generates
or receives signal. Therefore according to figure 3.8
we have decided to go for only the adaptors those have
inner conductor nail isolated from that of the outer
Figure 3.8 Adapting
Schematic [Ref. ^]
shields of the connector. Therefore the selected

adaptors suitable for our case are either of E1, E2 or
E3
Coax
male
to
triax
female.
Now, the other portion of the Junction box consists of 4 more triax to coax
connection except from the fact that they will get inter-connected to the Edge
connector which is attached to the connecting cable for Sample holder connections
and will externally be connected to the column of the Keithley 7001 Switching
matrix.
Figure 3.9 Junction boxs physical connections
Page 38 of 74
3.2.6 Hardware Integration

The integrated overall hardware setup can be summarised by the figure 3.10 below. Here to be noted that the matrix row-column
combination in this figure is just a rough figurative representation and not advisable to follow for understanding the switching
pattern. Rather this should be taken as the integrated hardware arrangement and figure 3.7 be taken as the switching
arrangement.
Figure 3.10 Hardware integration

Page 39 of 74
3.2.7 Magnetic arrangement

The measurement configuration that we are aiming to construct, Hall voltage
measurement is the finalising factor of that. For the Hall measurement the essential
part of the configuration is the magnetic field. To be more specific, a uniform,
reversible magnetic field as per our previous discussion in chapter 2. Therefore for
the arrangement, we designed a schematic in figure 3.1. But for the magnetic field
arrangement here we have considered few physical phenomena. Firstly, from
previous experimental setups it has been suggested that, for typical hall
measurement setup a magnetic field from 500 gauss to 5000 gauss had been used.
[Ref. White paper, National something institute]. Therefore considering any
of the reasonably priced commercial magnets, it is mostly possible to achieve a
magnetic field neighbouring 500 gauss, from 5-10mm distance off the surface. But
for design ease and because highly doped or conducting materials require much
higher magnetic field applied on them to exhibit Hall voltage, it is always better to
have a window of improving the magnetic field. So lets consider a bar magnet as
figure 3.11, the magnetic lines (flux) are travelling from north to south
independently (a) unless there is another magnet creating dipole with the other in
an attracting position (b) and therefore the flux between the attracting pole of two
magnets are adding up according the Magnetic superposition principal [Ref.].
(a)
(b)
Figure 3.11 Magnetic field lines of (a) independent magnet and (b) magnetic dipoles
Page 40 of 74
So, assuming a sample placed in the middle of the magnetic field lines in between the
attracting magnetic dipole creates nearly perpendicular magnetic flux on the sample
which is even greater than that of a single magnet ( = 1 + 2 ). Taking this as a
key we have decided to use two neodymium-iron-boron rectangular (50mm x 50mm
x 5mm) permanent bar magnets each having nearly 880 gauss flux density at 10mm
distance from the surface [12], in an attracting dipole and placed them in 20mm
distance from each other. Therefore considering the = 1 + 2 formula of
magnetic superposition, the resultant field applied on a sample in the middle of this
dipole will be 1700 gauss. But again, the following several previous researches [1315] and commercial magnet services [16] an iron/steel path connecting a magnetic
dipole (Figure 3.12) can give a rise in the magnetic field significantly makes the
field more homogenous. Therefore, we have decided to use an iron yoke in an
arrangement where is can be physically reversed by turning knob around (figure
3.1). Moreover depending on the field calculator provided from commercial
magnetic services [17], the approximate resultant magnetic field has also been
calculated as 3023 Gauss (0.3T). Therefore for our calculations we decided to use
the value of B as 0.3 Tesla.
Figure 3.12 Magnetic eld strength in the iron yoke and eld vector presentation of
accelerator magnets [14]
Page 41 of 74
Therefore the magnetic frame configuration of our whole VDP resistivity and Hall effect measurement system came up as follow:
Figure 3.13 Magnetic frame configuration along with other constructed parts
To be mentioned that the sample holder can be taken out of the magnetic field in case of VDP resistivity measurement further to a
150mm distance and it has been measured that the possible effect of magnetic field at that distance can be maximum of 10 gauss
and is not even in a premedical direction, therefore is ignorable in respect of the types of materials we will be measuring.
Page 42 of 74
3.3 Software
In order to enable automation of the whole system we have used Agient VEE, a
graphical dataflow programming environment to develop programs for automated
VDP resistivity measurement and Hall Mobility measurement. VEE originally stands
for Virtual Engineering Environment and is widely used in the field of material
characterisation, microelectronics research, instrument control and automation etc.
This is compatible with devices from several different vendors as in hp, Agilent,
Keithley and so on.
3.3.1 Program for VDP resistivity measurement

A voltage verses current program had previously been designed by Dr Shashi Paul
and Krishna Nama of EMTERC to measure voltage for applied range of current and
also determine the resistance from the slope of I-V curve using linear regression.
This had been programmed for Keithley 220 Programmable Current Source and
Keithley 195a Digital Multi-Meter. In addition to that, I have developed an
automatic switching program for the system to perform I-V measurements with
different combinations as discussed in Chapter 2. For the switching program the
combinations have been made as per the elaboration of Eq 2.13 and placed in 4
different subsystems to enable the matrix switching connections one after another.
The connection points have been decided depending on the schematic presented in
figure 3.7. The command structure followed for the programming of Keithley 7001
Switching System had been mentioned in Appendix C.
Other than the combined data flow programming, a user interface (layout map) has
also been generated in order allow general users with no or limited programming
knowledge using the system as presented in figure 3.14 below. To be noted that,
here the entity RA1, RA2, RB1 and RB2 represents the physical connections of
21,34 , 43,12 , 32,41 & 14,23 respectively.
Page 43 of 74
Figure 3.14 User interface for VDP resistivity measurement program
Page 44 of 74
3.3.2 Program for Hall measurements

For the automation of Hall measurement the program developed has a somewhat
similar data flow characteristic in case of mapping the applied current range and
measuring the hall voltage and plotting them into an I-V curve. Once again it
measures voltage for applied range of current and also determines the resistance
from the slope of I-V curve using linear regression. This had also been programmed
for Keithley 220 Programmable Current Source and Keithley 195a Digital MultiMeter. But its important to notice that the resistance that we are getting here from
the plot does not represent sheet or sample resistance, rather it indicates to Hall
resistance [18] which gives out a measurement of:
RH =
(Equation 3.1)
Now combining Eq 3.1 with Eq 2.10, the calculation for Hall mobility comes up as
follows:
=
= R0/
(Equation 3.2)
[ Where, Hall Coefficient, R0 =
So once the program works in a way so that it firstly, performs Hall Resistance (R H)
measurements for different combinations under positive magnetic field and then it
asks the user to reverse the magnetic field. Once user makes sure the magnetic field
has been reversed, it performs the same measurements once again but under the
negative magnetic field. Then from the average value of RH, the hall coefficient (Ro)
and Hall mobility is calculated following direction from Eq 3.2. To be noted that the
resistivity is considered to be a known parameter in Hall measurement or is
suggested to measure prior to the hall measurement, using the above system.
Another, parameter which can be measured from the value of Hall coefficient (R o), is
the carrier density, n. The formula used for that isn = 1/eRo [Where, elementary charge, e = 1.6 10-19 C]
The user interface (figue 3.15) and the magnetic field reversal command (figue
3.16) is as follow:
Page 45 of 74
Figure 3.15 User interface for Hall measurements program
Page 46 of 74
Figure 3.16 Hall measurement program asking for magnetic reversal
Page 47 of 74
References
1. Ecopia Hall measurement System, Bridge Techonology
2. Product info, Hall effect SPCB, Ecopia
3. Green R., (2011), Hall Effect Measurements in Materials Characterization,
Keithley Instruments, Inc., p. 6
4. 220 and 230 Programmable sources, Keithley, Low Level Sources, [Online]
Available at: http://www.halted.com/corp/keithley230.pdf
5. Ghovanloo M., (2005), A compact large Voltage-compliance high outputimpedance programmable current source for implantable microstimulators,
Biomedical Engineering, Vol 52, Issue 1, p. 97
6. Keithley 220 Programmable Current Source Instruction Manual, Keithley
Instruments, p. 2-4
7. Keithley 195A Digital Multi-Meter, Instruction Manual, Keithley Instruments,
August 1983, 195-901-01C
8. Keithley 195A, Bancroft12194, YouTube [Online], Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwxnokS2GDQ
9. 195A/Digital Multimeter, System/Bench, p. 1
10. Keithley Model 7152 Low Current Matrix Card, Instruction Manual, Keithley
Instruments, p. 2-8
11. Adapter: circuitry schematics, impedance matching, [Online], Available:
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1073257.pdf
12. NdFeB (Neodymium Iron Boron) Rectangular Block Magnets, Reed Switch and
Hall Effect Magnets, An introduction to Reed Switch and Hall Effect Magnets, eMagnetsUK.
13. Russenchuck S., Design of Accelerator Magnets, CERN, 1211 Geneva 23,
Switzerland
Page 48 of 74
14. Zickler Th., Basic design and engineering of normal-conducting, irondominated electromagnets, CERN, 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland
15. Gupta R., (2003), Magnetic Design Yoke Optimisation, USPAS Course on
Superconducting Accelerator Magnets, June 23-27, 2003, Lecture V, Slide No. 10
16. How can I create a magnetic field that is as homogeneous as possible?, FAQ,
SuperMagnet
17. Field Calculations for a Permanent Magnet Dipole, Dexter Magnetic
Technologies, [online], Available: http://www.dextermag.com/resourcecenter/magnetic-field-calculators/field-calculations-for-permanent-magnet-dipole
18. Hall Resistance and Hall Coefficient, GM Lab Manuals, School of Physics at
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA
Page 49 of 74
Chapter 4
Test, Analysis and Discussion
4.1 Resistivity Measurements
In this section we are going to measure and validate the resistivity of some metals
and known semiconductors. Motivation behind measuring the resistivity of metal
and then of known semiconductors is to qualify the accuracy of measurement system.
4.1.1 Metal:
Material: Aluminium of 300nm Thickness
[Standard bulk Resistivity of Al - (2.8-2.65 X 10-8) m]
The metallic sample taken for experiment in the resistivity measurement is a thin
film of Aluminium deposited on glass substrate. The thickness is mentioned as
300nm. Literatures [1] suggest the typical resistivity of Al is extremely low, as in up
to 10-8 m range. Experiments shown resistivity of Al in different occasions as 2.8E18 [1,2], 2.65E-18 [3] etc. From our constructed VDP resistivity arrangement- under
different supplies of current ranges the resistivities of our considered Al sample
found, are as follows:
Reading
VDP
RA1
RA2
RB1
RB2
No.
Resistivity
(m)
(m)
(m)
(m)
4.1.1
1.7X10-8
17.13
17.21
9.89
9.98
4.1.2
1.8X10-8
16.88
17.15
10.63
10.03
4.1.3
1.72X10-8
17.34
16.88
13.77
4.56
4.1.4
1.8X10-7
19.55
-5.40
0.635
0.1146
4.1.5
0.8X10-8
16.64
9.802
1.79
2.583
Table 4.1. Resistivity of Al thin film in different current ranges
Page 50 of 74
The readings above depict the resistivity of the AL Thin film as near to 1.7-1.8E-8
range, which may not be exactly similar to the values found in previous researches,
but nearly matches the range. Note that the depicted resistance values are the
resistances found from different Van Der Pauw probe arrangements. However,
Reading No 4.1.4 illustrates some sudden change in measured value of Al
resistivity. Therefore, to make sure if the linear fit done in the Agilent program is
correct or not; the recorded I-V data have been manually plotted in Origin and
Linear fit have been found out from there. Meanwhile, for the Reading number 4.1.1
& 4.1.2, the plotted curves are as follows:
0.0005
Combination 01
Combination 02
Combination 03
Combination 04
Voltage (v)
0.0004
0.0003
0.0002
0.0001
0.0000
0.010
0.015
0.020
0.025
0.030
Curent (I) (Amp)
Figure 4.1. I-V plots for resistivity measurement in 10mA to 30mA current range.
0.00035
Combination 01
Combination 02
Combination 03
Combination 04
0.00030
Voltage (v)
0.00025
0.00020
0.00015
0.00010
0.00005
0.010
0.012
0.014
0.016
0.018
0.020
Current(I) (Amp)
Page 51 of 74
Figure4.2. I-V plots for resistivity measurement in 10mA to 20mA current range.
The Graphs above shows a nearly linear characteristic, which indicates the expected
Metallic behaviour of Aluminium. For these two measurements, the comparison
between the direct fit found from Agilent and the manual fit done with Origin are
summarised below:
1
Averag
e RA &
RB
RA
0.016
31
0.016
38
0.0163
45
RB
0.009
49
0.009
51
0.0095
RA
0.016
08
0.016
33
0.0162
05
RB
0.0101
3
0.009 0.0098
55
4
Thickn
ess
RA/R
B
Correcti
on
Factor
(F)
Relative
Resistiv
ity
VDP
Res.
(OhmM)
From
Agile
nt
(Ohm
-M)
3.00E07
1.7205
26
0.97122
7
1.75694
E-08
1.70639
E-08
1.70
E-08
3.00E07
1.6468
5
0.97537
9
1.77054
E-08
1.72695
E-08
1.80
E-08
Table 4.2. Comparison of Resistivity calculations done Automatically and Manually.
The Table 4.2 above indicates that,

almost similar values are depicted
from both the Automatic and Manual
calculations. Similar behaviour is also
observed in case of reading no 4.1.3.
But in case of a much lower current
supply
to
the
sample,
the
I-V
behaviour changes noticeably. As per

the reading no 4.1.4 concerns, the
linear fits found directly from the I-V
data comes as follows:
Figure 4.3. Al Sample used
Page 52 of 74
Voltage1 (V)
Linear Fit of Sheet1 B"Voltage1"
Voltage2 (V)
Linear Fit of Sheet1 C"Voltage2"
0.000002
0.000006
Voltage2 (V)
Voltage1 (V)
0.000008
0.000004
0.000000
-0.000002
0.000002
0.0001
0.0002
0.0003
0.0004
0.0005
0.0001
0.0002
Current(I) (Amp)
Voltage3 (V)
Linear Fit of Sheet1 D"Voltage3"
0.000019
0.0004
0.0005
Voltage4 (V)
Linear Fit of Sheet1 E"Voltage4"
-0.000030
Voltage4 (V)
Voltage3 (V)
0.0003
Current(I) (Amp)
0.000018
-0.000031
0.000017
0.0001
0.0002
0.0003
0.0004
0.0005
0.0001
Current(I) (Amp)
0.0002
0.0003
0.0004
0.0005
Current(I) (Amp)
Figure 4.4. Raw data and linear fittings of I-V Characteristics of Al thin film of 300nm in lower
current range in Van Der Pauw Resistivity measurement arrangements.
Apart from the first fitting, the other linear fittings above do not look like correct fit.
Therefore the slope found from these data, indicating the resistance are also not
going to be correct either. So, in order to determine the correct linear fit, the graphs
below have been plotted omitting the contradictory datasets from the I-V data.
0.000018
Voltage01
Linear Fit of Sheet1 B"Voltage01"
0.000010
0.000016
Voltage02
Linear Fit of Sheet1 C"Voltage02"
0.000014
0.000006
Voltage02 (V)
Voltage01 (V)
0.000008
0.000012
0.000010
0.000008
Equation
y = a + b*x
Weight
No Weighting
Residual Sum
of Squares
1.27529E-1
3
Pearson's r
0.99973
Adj. R-Square
0.99942
0.000006
Value
Voltage01
Intercept
Slope
0.000004
0.000002
Equation
y = a + b*x
No Weighting
0.000000
Weight
Residual
Sum of
Squares
Pearson's r
Standard Error
-6.92941E-7
7.87548E-8
0.01658
1.03522E-4
0.000004
0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006 0.0007 0.0008 0.0009 0.0010 0.0011 0.0012
Current (I) (Amp)
Figure 4.5. Manual Linear fitting for

Voltage 01
1.59265E-1
3
0.99963
0.99921
Adj. R-Squar
-0.000002
Value
Voltage02
Intercept
Slope
Standard Err
-8.67868E-
8.801E-8
0.01597
1.15687E-4
-0.000004
0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006 0.0007 0.0008 0.0009 0.0010 0.0011 0.0012
Current (I) (Amp)

Voltage 02
Page 53 of 74
-0.000024
-0.000025
Voltage03
Linear Fit of Sheet1 D"Voltage03"
0.000024
0.000023
-0.000028
-0.000029
-0.000030
Voltage04
Linear Fit of Sheet1 E"Voltage04"
0.000022
-0.000027
Voltage04 (v)
Voltage03 (V)
-0.000026
Equation
y = a + b*x
Weight
Residual
Sum of
Squares
Pearson's r
No Weighting
4.79265E-1
3
0.99656
0.99264
Adj. R-Squar
Value
-0.000031
Voltage03
-0.000032
Intercept
Slope
0.000021
0.000020
Equation
y = a + b*x
0.000019
Weight
No Weighting
0.000018
Residual Sum 7.96059E-1

3
of Squares
0.99422
Pearson's r
1.52672E-7
0.00903
2.00685E-4
0.98764
Adj. R-Square
Standard Err
-3.47463E-
Value
0.000017
Voltage04
Intercept
Standard Erro
1.35424E-
1.96764E-7
0.00896
2.58642E-4
Slope
0.000016
0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006 0.0007 0.0008 0.0009 0.0010 0.0011 0.0012
Current (I) (Amp)

Voltage 03
0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006 0.0007 0.0008 0.0009 0.0010 0.0011 0.0012
Current (I) (Amp)

Voltage 04
By looking at the linear fittings above it appears that the fittings this time are much
acceptable than their prior counterparts. The values omitted from the curves are
considered to be acting unusual because of the cosmetic defects on the Aluminium
thin film due to probable scratches from twisters or probes as seen in figure 4.3,
causing discontinuation in electron flow. Therefore probability is, at low current
range it failed to proportionally increase the voltage rating with current supply.
However, the slops depicted from these later fittings indicate the resistances
necessary (RA1, RA2, RB1, RB2) to calculate the Van Der Pawu resistivity. Therefore,
comparison between the direct fit found from Agilent and the manual fit done with
Origin are presented below:
Page 54 of 74
1
Average
Thickne
RA &
ss
RA/RB
Relative
RB
RA
RB
VDP Res.
From
Resistivi
Agilen
ty
0.0165
0.0159
0.01627
0.0090
0.0089
0.00899
3.00E-
1.80933
0.96628
1.71785E
1.65993
1.80
07
-08
E-08
E-07
Table 4.3. Corrected readings and results of manual calculation of Al resistivity.
So, the manual fitting is giving us a value of resistivity nearing to the expected prior
values. It is clear that the Resistivity found from the manual fitting method is more
accurate than that of the automated Agilent program. But it is also to be noted that
the manual fitting only makes significant difference if the programmed fitting
provides drastically incorrect data. So, it is suggested that, if the automated result
from the Agilent programme depicts unusually different fitting only then it is a good
idea to calculate manually.
Material: Copper (Cu) of 50nm Thickness

[Standard bulk Resistivity: 1.68108 m]
The second metallic sample taken for the resistivity measurement is a Cu (Copper)
thin film of 50nm deposited on glass substrate. Literatures [4] suggest the typical
resistivity of Cu is also very low in general case, in fact even lower than that of Al
which makes copper a better choice as interconnecting lines in semiconductor
Page 55 of 74
industry over Al [5]. But our measurement in the constructed VDP System depicts
interesting results below:
Reading
VDP
No.
Resistivity
RA1
RA2
RB1
RB2
(m)
4.4.1
1.95X10-7
3.786m
9.34m
1.581
1.582
4.4.2
1.94X10-7
7.352m
8.019m
1.578
1.578
4.4.3
1.94X10-7
8.425m
7.768m
1.578
1.578
Table 4.4. Resistivity of Cu thin film in different current ranges
The table 4.4 above suggests that the resistivity of copper thin-film measured in our
lab has steadily given a higher resistivity than aluminium as well as than bulk copper
(1.68108 m), at all the applied current ranges. To be noted that, researches [6]
suggest Cu nano-particles of 50nm or smaller shows different physical properties
than that of the bulk Cu. Likewise, the electronic properties of nano-copper also
changes with its thickness reduced and the Resistivity of Copper films thinner than
100nm rapidly increases by significant magnitude [7]. Therefore, this can be said
that the resistivity values found from the VDP measurement of the 50nm Cu film are
acceptably correct, and greater than that of the Al resistivity, because sample
thickness
is
much
less
than
100nm.
Page 56 of 74
4.1.2 p-Type Silicon:

In order to conduct the resistivity experiments on p-Type semiconductor materials,
we have considered different kinds of commercial Silicon wafers with given values of
resistivity. The value of resistivity found by the VDP measurement in our lab, will be
compared and contrasted to ensure the correctness of the measurements.
Material: P-type crystalline Si of 500m Thickness

[Given Resistivity: 2-30 cm]
RA1
RA2
RB1
RB2
3.391 cm
9.006
20.93
3.266
25.92
4.5.2
2.821 cm
-949
2901
409.8
2453
4.5.3
4.158 cm
-21.31
-107.5
96.69
96.95
Reading
VDP
No.
Resistivity
4.5.1
Table 4.5. Resistivity of p-Si of 500m in different current ranges
The measurements above show that the measured Resistivity of the 500m
commercial P-type Si sample in our system under different ranges of applied
currents, falls inside the given resistivity range (2-30 cm) of the wafer.
Material: P-type crystalline Si of 525m Thickness

Another commercial p-Si wafer has been tested for greater confident measurement.
This time the thickness of the wafer and the given resistivity both are changed.
Measurements for all the applied current ranges (stated in figure 4.10) are as follows
Reading
VDP
RA1
RA2
RB1
RB2
Page 57 of 74
No.
Resistivity
4.6.1
6.89 cm
38.3
26.9
25.48
25.54
4.6.2
6.842 cm
37.32
26.88
25.49
25.52
4.6.3
8.56 cm
36.83
36.3
34.59
34.67
4.6.4
8.657 cm
35.89
30.63
44.15
31.74
4.6.5
11.73 cm
42.57
47.97
51.82
50.61
Table 4.6. Resistivity of p-Si of 525m in different current ranges
As observed, the depicted VDP resistivity measurements of the second p-Si wafer are
also falling inside the given commercial range of resistivity (1-20 cm). So, I decided
to take a different sample which is not purely silicon.
Material: P-type Si with Aluminium coating, Sample Thickness 525m

Therefore, a different p-Type Si sample

has been taken which has a given
silicon resistivity of 1-10 cm, but with
an evaporated metallic coating of
Aluminium. The wafer has an SSP
polishing type as shown in figure 4.9.
The measured results of the sample
came out enlightening:
Figure 4.9. Back and front of Al coated

p-Si Sample
Page 58 of 74
RA1
RA2
RB1
RB2
0.069 cm
0.263
0.2997
0.2938
0.2854
4.7.2
0.079 cm
0.3306
0.3399
0.323
0.3215
4.7.3
0.079 cm
0.3314
0.3365
0.3194
0.3273
4.7.4
0.065 cm
0.3548
0.2495
0.2415
0.2405
4.7.5
0.064 cm
0.3593
0.2504
0.2354
0.238
Reading
VDP
No.
Resistivity
4.7.1
Table 4.7. Resistivity of Al coated p-Si of 525m in different current ranges\\z
All the measured resistivities above (table 4.7) have given a much lower value of the
sample resistivity than that of the commercially given range (1-10 cm). This is
because of the metallic contribution of the evaporated Al which has lowered the
resistivity of the overall sample by a great extent and hindered the way of measuring
resistivity of only the p-Silicon material. This also indicates that how important it is
to have a non-conductive or insulating substrate for Van Der Pauw Resistivity
measurement samples to determine the correct resistivity.
4.1.2 n-Type Silicon:

Material: n-type Si of 300m Thickness
RA1
RA2
RB1
RB2
4.529 cm
33.12
22.49
37.16
36.61
4.8.2
4.324 cm
31.28
21.67
35.27
35.31
4.8.3
5.457 cm
29.06
29.22
48.11
48.05
Reading
VDP
No.
Resistivity
4.8.1
Page 59 of 74
4.8.4
5.97 cm
29.97
34.12
52.14
52.77
4.8.5
6.28 cm
34.53
34.63
54.55
54.49
Table 4.8. Resistivity of n-Si of 300m in different current ranges
Though the calculated VDP resistivities found from the above table do not quite
match exactly to the given Value of resistivity, it is clear that the measured values
here are not far away from the given range and pretty steady with variable current
ranges. Considering all the semiconductor samples examined so far are annealed
with aluminium ohmic contacts and the VDP system probes seat on the annealed
contact areas only- there can be some deviation of resistivity due to the difference
between contact resistivity and bulk resistivity [8]. Therefore for a better confident
measurement of n-type materials can be achieved by measuring some other n-type
sample of different doping concentration and wafer thickness.
Material: n+-type Si of 500m Thickness

[Given Resistivity: <0.02 cm]
Reading
VDP
No.
Resistivity
RA1
RA2
RB1
RB2
(cm)
4.9.1
0.00179
5.149
2.793
-30.07
-26.2
4.9.2
0.00198
2.171
3.07
29.84
-29.18
4.9.3
0.00705
2.456
4.285
-59.96
-61.37
4.9.4
0.00561
9.486
9.83
-54.92
-54.95
4.9.5
0.00377
10.49
13.22
-42.36
-47.73
Table 4.9. Resistivity of n+ wafer of 500m in different current ranges
n+-type materials are very heavily doped n-type material wafers those have a much
higher conductivity than that of their other doped counterparts. Therefore n +-type
Page 60 of 74
materials are considered to be of nearly metallic character, having very low value of
resistivity caused by higher availability of electrons. Now the n + sample of 525um
thickness that I have measured is a commercially available wafer, with a mentioned
resistivity of <0.02 cm. From table 4.9 it is clear that the measured resistivities
are very much lower than the mentioned maximum range. Therefore the resistivity
measurement can be considered correct.
4.1.3 Comparison between samples with and without ohmic

contacts:
As discussed in Chapter two, for all the semiconductor samples used in the
measurement so far, four aluminium contacts have been evaporated on each of them
in order to enable ohmic contacts necessary for VDP resistivity measurement. These
contacts are very important in order to ensure correctness of the measurements. So,
to compare the results with and without the ohmic contact- we have taken another
piece of the same n-type silicon wafer of 300um used previously (table 4.8), but
this time without any ohmic contacts made on it. The measured resistivities depicted
at the same current ranges used before are as follows:
RA1
RA2
RB1
RB2
77.5 cm
-305.8
1869
327.4
484.5
4.10.2
9.78 cm
-137.1
432
90.96
-34.22
4.10.3
5.758 cm
-0.865
195.9
23.65
3.714
4.10.4
1.372 cm
24.541
-1.769
-3.988
21.72
4.10.5
0.92 cm
11.55
6.879
4.29
5.434
Reading
VDP
No.
Resistivity
4.10.1
Table 4.10. Resistivity of n-Si of 300m without ohmic contacts in different current
ranges
Page 61 of 74
Now, plotting the depicted resistivity values from this n-Si sample with (table 4.8)
and without (table 4.10) ohmic contacts, we found an expected outcome along these
lines.
Figure 4.10.
80
Without Ohmic Contacts

With Ohmic Contacts
Measured resistivity (cm)
70
60
50
40
Comparison between resistivity

measured on 300um n-Si
sample with and without ohmic
contacts in current ranges as
follows:
30
20
Symbol
From
To
10
Step
1.
100uA
600uA
25uA
2.
100uA
1.1mA
50uA
3.
1mA
6mA
0.25mA
4.
1mA
10mA
0.5mA
0
-10
1
Applied Current Ranges
10mA
30mA
The graph above illustrates how scattering the resistivity 5.measurements
are 1mA
when
measured without any ohmic contacts, and also illustrates the steadiness of the
measurements taken with ohmic contacts on the other hand. Therefore it is highly
recommended that, one uses ohmic contacts on the semiconductors to measure
resistivity using this Van Der Pauw resistivity measurement arrangement for
accuracy.
In our case we have made contacts with Aluminium using thermal
evaporation technique, and later the samples have been annealed at 5000 c for half
an hour, temperature was ramped from 200 to 5000 at 100 per min.
4.2 Hall Voltage Measurements

4.2.1 P-type Silicon:
The hall voltage measurements have been conducted using the same samples those
we have previously measured the resistivity of. This has been done because the
motive of this whole project is to make ourselves enable of measuring mobility of
material; so the sample we put under the Hall Voltage system has to be the same one
that we have measured the resistivity of. Now this section is mainly going to measure
and validate the point that the constructed arrangement is generating hall voltage for
Page 62 of 74
particular types of material. For p-type silicon therefore we once again take the
525um sample of crystalline wafer. For the hall probe arrangement of I13V24 the Hall
Voltage has been measured applying a range of current from 10mA to 30mA under
three different magnetic flux situations- with no magnetic field (noB Voltage), with a
forward magnetic field (B+ Voltage) and with a reversed magnetic field (B- Voltage).
This will give us an idea of the correctness of the measured hall voltage. Ideally the
curves for different magnetic situation should depict identical behaviour, but in
different magnitude. So, I-V characteristic of the considered p-Si sample is as
follows:
B+ Voltage
B-Voltage
noB Voltage
-0.4
Voltage, V (v)
-0.6
-0.8
-1.0
-1.2
-1.4
0.010
0.015
0.020
0.025
0.030
Current, I (Amp)
Figure 4.11. Hall voltage variation in p-Type bulk Si sample with variant current
Now figure 4.11. above illustrates the behaviour of voltage variance depending of
the magnetic flux direction. It is clear from above that even after showing some
discrepancy at the bingeing the blue curve in the middle which represents the voltage
found without any magnetic field applied keeps a stable voltage difference from the
voltage curves caused by forward and reversed magnetic field. Therefore the
magnitude of the potential difference stays nearly stable with current variation.
Another important observation is that, considering the blue curve as the zero point of
potential, the forward magnetic field applied on the p-Type sample gives a positive
Page 63 of 74
deviation in voltage (black curve) or in other words positive potential difference.

Likewise when the magnetic field is reversed, the potential difference indicates an
almost equal but opposite deviation in voltage. Therefore this also shows that
according to our previous discussion in chapter 2, the Hall potential difference is
positive under a forward magnetic field applied for p-type materials and vice versa
because of the Lorentz force created on the carrier, which in this case is positive hole.
Consequently, the Hall voltage can be measured at any particular current by dividing
the potential difference between B+ Voltage and B- Voltage by two. Note that the sign
of the voltage (whether + or -) does not necessarily indicate any particular
information, therefore when calculating for further use it only the absolute value of
the potential difference is taken into consideration as Hall Voltage. So, that is the
practical reasoning why Hall effect measurement is not very effective in measuring
minority carrier mobility.
4.2.2 N-type Silicon:

Now the measurement of the hall voltage in case of n-type Si, does not illustrate
much of a difference than that of the n-type. But there are still observations made
which can be critical in future applications. Once again the 300um sample taken for
n-Si is the same one used for previous resistivity measurement, and depicts the hall
voltage behaviour as follows at the hall probe arrangement of I13V24 under variant
current supply:
Page 64 of 74
0.05
B- Voltage
B+ Voltage
noB Voltage
Voltage, V (v)
0.00
-0.05
-0.10
-0.15
-0.20
0.010
0.015
0.020
0.025
0.030
Current, I (Amp)
Figure 4.12. Hall voltage variation in n-Type bulk Si sample with variant current
The figure 4.12 above, though not as uniformly as for that of the p-type material,
has depicted nearly stable potential difference from the zero magnetic field voltage
(noB Voltage) in case of both the flux directions. There can be seen some sudden
fluctuations in voltage at particular current but that does not change the ratio of
potential difference anyway. Here another interesting character is more visible that
the potential differences at all the applied currents are not same at any point, rather
the potential difference almost proportionally increased with the current flow. That
should not be a worry for the hall measurement as per our concern. Considering Eq
3.1 if hall resistance is constant, though the electric field associated with the potential
difference VH is perpendicular to the current, an increment in hall voltage is normal
if the current supply increases [9].
Again opposite to the previous measurement, figure 4.12 also shows that the Hall
potential difference is negative under a forward magnetic field applied for n-type
materials and vice versa because of the Lorentz force created on the carriers, which
in this case are negative electrons.
Page 65 of 74
4.2.3 Metal:
The sample taken for measuring hall voltage in metal is again the 300nm Aluminium
film on glass that we have tested before. Hall voltage measurement in metal is
technically not very similar to that of the semiconductors. The measured I-V curve
depicted from the I13V24 hall arrangement this time gives a rather interesting
outcome.
0.00003
Voltage, V
Linear Voltage trend
regardsless of B field.
0.00002
Voltage, V (v)
Figure 4.13.
0.00001
Hall arrangement outcome for

metal under changing magnetic
field direction.
0.00000
-0.00001
Moving into reversed B

Coming out of reversed B
Moving into forward B
Coming out of forward B
-0.00002
-0.00003
0.0000
0.0002
0.0004
0.0006
0.0008
0.0010
0.0012
Current, I (amp)
Now that it is clear from figure 4.13 this cannot be a regular I-V curve for any hall
measurement. Rather this is the voltage changing behaviour for metal (Al) in the
arrangement moving under different B-fields. To describe the graph it can be said
that- the voltage has been almost linearly changing with current at the beginning in a
zero B situation, then the sample has been moved under the negative B- field which
has given a spike in positive direction and comes down to the linear trend again
without stabilising in the pick of the spike. Then when the sample again is taken out
of the magnetic field it gives another spike but this time in the opposite direction.
Now when the magnetic direction is changed and the current carrying sample is
moved under forward B+, there appears a similar kind of spike again but this time to
the opposite direction than that for the negative B-, and again after stabling back to
the linear trend when the sample is taken away from under the magnetic field it gives
another oppositely directed spike. This whole phenomenon does not show any Hall
effect rather replicates the Faradays effect of electromagnetic induction. But the
Page 66 of 74
reason we can say this has a significance is, by considering the direction of the
oscillations in this graph we could see that the magnetic field and its reversal is
effecting the charge carriers as expected. Therefore our discussions made in chapter
3 related to the magnetic arrangement shows some validity.
Now the reason behind metal not showing considerably visible Hall effect is that the
high amount of current carrier in metal requires really high current and higher
magnetic field to deviate the carriers from the direction of potential difference. Even
for the case of a current as much as 1 amp and magnetic field as strong as 10,000
gauss, the voltage resulting in metal from the Hall effect can be extremely small. [10]
In our arrangement the current can only go up to 100mAmp and the theoretically
possible magnetic flux density is about 3,000 gauss. Therefore it is not feasible to be
able to correctly measure hall voltage for metal in this arrangement.
Page 67 of 74
4.3 Hall Mobility Measurements

Once the resistivity and hall voltage is possible to measure for any material sample, it
is possible to obtain the Hall coefficient as discussed in Chapter 2. Now that we have
previously been able to measure resistivity and hall voltage for p-Si and n-Si samples,
it is now possible to attempt for the mobility measurement. For the mobility
measurement we have used the programmed automated arrangement in order to
avoid physical connection changing. So for p-type the outcomes are as follows:
Figure 4.14. Hall mobility calculation for p-Type bulk Si sample
Here the depicted hall mobility for the p-Si sample thus the hole mobility of Si is
0.1233 m2V-1s-1. Converting that into the centimetre scale which gives a value of 1233
cm2V-1s-1 as the hole mobility in silicon. But according to previous researches and
literatures that does not at all comply with the widely accepted Hole mobility value of
Silicon (450 cm2V-1s-1).[11, 12] The possible reason of this kind of outcome has
been discussed in the later section.
Meanwhile for the n-Si sample the resultant Hall mobility as in the electron mobility
of silicon has come out as follows:
Page 68 of 74
Figure 4.15. Hall mobility calculation for n-Type bulk Si sample
Now the outcome for silicon electron mobility measurement came out as 514.3 cm2V1s-1
which once again doest even nearly comply with the previous widely accepted
results (1400 cm2V-1s-1) [11, 12]. Therefore this is attention grabbing that even after
finding out nearly correct direction of resistivity and hall voltage, the calculated
mobilities in both the cases are giving unusual results. If looked at Chapter 2 this can
be said that once the resistivity of any sample with specified thickness and Hall
voltage of the sample under specified current is obtained, the only parameter which
can make significant change in the Mobility measurement is the value of magnetic
flux density. Since we just tried to theoretically estimate the magnetic flux density in
Chapter three, and accepted that as our measuring parameter- that most likely
brought such discrepancy in mobility calculation.
Page 69 of 74
References
1. Desai, James and Ho, (1984), Electrical resistivity of aluminium and
Magnesium, Journal of physical chemistry, Reference Data, Volume 13, No 4, 1984,
p. 1133
2. Raymond A. Serway, (1998), Principles of Physics(2nd ed.), Fort Worth, Texas;
London: Saunders College Pub. p. 602. ISBN 0-03-020457-7
3. Conductivity and Resistivity Values for Aluminum & Alloys, Collaboration for
Nondestructive Testing, 8 June 2004
4. Giancoli D., (2009), "25. Electric Currents and Resistance", In Jocelyn
Phillips. Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics(4th ed.), Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. p. 658. ISBN 0-13-149508-9.
5. Hanaoka Y. et al, (2002), Increase in Electrical Resistivity of Copper and
Aluminium Film Lines, Material Transactions, Vol 43, No 7, The Japan Institute of
Metals, p. 1621
6. Zentel R., (2008), Functionalized Nano Particles, Ohannes GutenbergUniversitt Mainz, Gutenberg, Germany
7. Hanaoka Y. et al, (2002), Increase in Electrical Resistivity of Copper and
Aluminium Film Lines, Material Transactions, Vol 43, No 7, The Japan Institute of
Metals, p. 1622
8. Rolland M. et al, (1977), Low noise Ohmic contacts on n-type Silicon, SolidState Electronics, Volume 20, Issue 4, April 1977, p. 323
9. Hall Resistance and Hall Coefficient, GM Lab Manuals, School of Physics at
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA
10. Ramsen E., (2006), Hall Effect Physics, Hall-effect Sensors Theory and
Application, Elseivier Publications B. V., p. 7
11. Schubert E. F., Room Temperature Properties of Si,Ge and GaAs, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA
12. Arora N. D. et al, (1982), Electron and Hole Mobilities in Silicon as a Function
of Concentration and Temperature, IEE Transaction on Electron Devices, Vol. ED29, February 1982, p. 293
Page 70 of 74
Chapter 5
Conclusion and Future Work
5.1 Conclusion
This thesis work involved researching on mobility dependence of modern day solar
cell materials and putting up an effort to build an automated, user friendly system to
measure mobility of different conducting or semiconducting materials. This was clear
from our background research that mobility as an electrical parameter does have
potential to contribute into the solar energy research. Therefore I further researched
on the existing technological and research trends, and it encouraged me to delve into
the detailed physics of modern day photovoltaic materials. Therefore I came to know
that low mobility materials are in todays world playing significant role in solar cell
development. It has been additionally investigated that a-Si:H can be a potential low
mobility material that can possibly be further improved based on modification in
mobility parameters. It has already been optimised that conventional a-Si:H thin
film solar cells efficiency can be estimated based on the carrier mobility of its low
mobility intrinsic layer. We then came to know that using different dopants in
different dopping densities the mobility of silicon can be changed in a low mobility
state. Therefore It was decided that if a mobility measurement system can be
developed, and validated by measuring materials with known parameters- this will
allow further research on low mobility amorphous silicon thin film solar cells for
performance measurement, efficiency optimisation and maximisation by improvising
existing techniques.
In order to develop an effective mobility measurement system researches have been
carried out and as a result it was decided that we will use Hall measurement
Technique. Therefore in order to design a hall arrangement, different other hall
systems have investigated and an improvised idea of hall measurement system has
been decided to implement. The very initial parameter needed for hall measurement
is material resistivity, which has been attempted to measure at the beginning.
Because of the possible arbitrary geometric shape of our sample we decided to use
Van der pauw resistivity measurement technique for our resistivity measurement.
For allowing our system to measure sample resistivity with four probe system a PCB
Page 71 of 74
sample holder was designed and made but another commercially available and more
finished product was decided to buy.
For the system to integrate the Hall configuration therewith, a magnetic arrangement
has also been designed and constructed. The main concern while designing the
magnetic frame was to be able to create as much flux density as possible using
commercial rectangular magnets.
Once the Measurement frame was done, our concern was to integrate the electrical
combinations in such a way so that the system can be operated automatically as well
as manually when necessary. Therefore the current source, voltage reader or
switching techniques used for signal generation and measurements, has been chosen
to be capable of automation. Therefore all the instruments used were programmable.
Two programmes have consequently been developed contributed by myself, my
colleague and my supervisor in order to measure Van der pauw resistivity of any
sample and measure Hall Mobility. This was formulated in my thesis that hall
mobility as a factor depicts few more parameters in corporate with it, such as Hall
coefficient, carrier concentration etcetera. These calculations have also been added in
to the program.
Now to validate the system we have measured the resistivity of some known material
first and made some interesting observations. The resistivity measurements gave
nearly correct resistivity for metal such as thin film aluminium but much higher
result for thin film copper. This has later been discussed that the tested sample
thickness played significant role in their respective resistivity and the analogy had
been supported by relevant literature. Then, p-type and n-type semiconducting
material samples have been tested and results have been discussed. The necessity of
having insulating substrate and ohmic contacts have been made evident by help of
comparison, discussion and reasoning.
Once the Van der pauw resistivity measurement arrangement has been validated
then the Hall voltage measurements have been carried out. N-type and p-type
crystalline silicon samples have been used as a test case for semiconductor. The
depicted Hall voltage has directed a correct trend. But metal sample (Al) because of
its very high carrier concentration did not show any significant change in Hall
arrangement.
Page 72 of 74
At the end the Mobility had been tried to measure for p-type and n-type silicon
considering p-type mobility as Hole mobility and n-type mobility as electron
mobility. But it is suspected that, because of probable glitch in our accepted
theoretical value of magnetic field the mobility measurements even after giving right
resistivity and right hall voltage polarity came out far away from the accepted values
of hole and electron mobility for Silicon.
5.2 Scope of further development and research

This project is open to a range of future developments and research possibilities.
Firstly, the measurement system requires further improvisation as it is observed that
the mobility values it is giving are not matching the widely accepted standard values.
Therefore there is a scope of testing some more samples to ensure that the outcomes
stay unchanged. Then the magnetic arrangement is required to be checked. Best way
is, if it is possible to check the resultant flux density using a gauss meter. Therefore if
it appears erroneous in that case the correct flux density can be entered while
measuring mobility. If necessary, for more stable and homogeneous magnetic field
and for ease in reversal of it, there can be electromagnets used. Helmholtz coil is a
good way of figuring out his problem.
Secondly, the Hall voltage measurement while performing without any applied
magnetic field should have given zero voltage, but that was not the case. Therefore
appears that the system is open to possible Common Mode voltage. This is due to
possible grounding error of the arrangement. Though the metallic junction box is
supposed to be working as a common ground for the system, this may have not been
working this way. Therefore the grounding pin of the sample holder which was not
used can be made use of in order to check and deduct the possible grounding errors.
At the time of the junction box construction there were a shortage of two of the
required BNC-To-Triax adapters. Therefore the E3 connections from the probe
station have temporarily been used to perform the action. These connections often
created measurement discrepancy, therefore for the further development of the
system this is one very important task to complete.
Page 73 of 74
In the end, once the system is fully working and giving out correct hall mobility
measurements, researches can be carried out with deposited amorphous silicon thin
films using different dopants and doping parameters used; as per the scope of this
thesis suggests. This system can also be used in measurement of carrier mobilitylifetime product for possible solar cell optimisation once fully validated.
Page 74 of 74

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Development of Carrier Mobility measurement system

Submitted in fulfillment of the

Microelectronics and Nano-technology (MEANT);

Dr. Shashi Paul

Goals and Objectives

Project organisation and Thesis outline

Background Research and Scope

Physics behind PV performance and Role of Mobility

Hall effect and Mobility Measurement

Van Der Pauw Resistivity measurement

Experimental setup for VDP Hall Mobility

Planning and design

3.2.2 Current source

3.2.4 Switching Matrix

3.2.5 Junction Box

3.2.6 Hardware Integration

3.2.7 Magnetic arrangement

Program for VDP Resistivity Measurement

Program for Hall measurement

TEST, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Comparison between Ohmic & Non-Ohmic contacts

Hall Voltage Measurements

Hall Mobility Measurements

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

Scope of future developement and research

Furthermore, as a postgraduate student while taking up my taught modules, I have

1.2 State of Research

manufacturability enhancement. [8]

showing the relationship between mobility and carrier lifetime () product as a

characterisations in semiconductor research also [11] [12]. Therefore, carrier

1.3 Goals and Objectives

1.4 Project organisation and Thesis outline

Figure 1.1 Project break-down structure

This is the ongoing chapter which has briefly described about my

motivation to take up this research, focused on related current research activities

This is the literature review describing all the theoretical backgrounds

main experimentation parts of the project, once all the hardware-software

This is the concluding chapter of my thesis. This has a summarised

performance of a-Si:H can be optimised and improved by using intrinsic layer of

2.2 Physics behind PV performance and the role of

to enable the transport mechanisms of transporting charge carriers there requires

Figure 2.1 Quantum efficiency of a Silicon solar cell [18]

Where, L= Diffusion length, D= Diffusion coefficient, = Carrier lifetime.

2.3 Hall effect and Mobility measurement

Figure 2.2 Conductive sheet

Figure 2.3 Hall Effect in the

According to the Lorentz force equation, if a charged particle (carrier/electron/hole)

Figure 2.4 Charge movement due to magnetic field

Figure 2.5 Hall arrangement sample dimensions and reference axis

[ Cross-sectional area, A = w.t]

[ Carrier Mobility, = v/E]

2.4 Van Der Pauw resistivity measurement

Figure 2.6 Lamella type VDP Hall sample

The Eq 2.14 is plotted in figure 2.7 below

Figure 2.7 VDP correction factor F, plotted against RA/RB

2.5 Experimental set-up for VDP Hall Mobility

Figure 3.1 Schematic of measurement frame with magnetic arrangement

3.2.1 Sample Holder

Figure 3.3 Final

Figure 3.4 Probe specification for corresponding PCB contacts.

Figure 3.5 Edge connector for sample holder

3.2.2 Current Source