Parallel conduction in semiconductors

Electronic transport characterization in semiconductor materials is becoming increasingly difficult as multi-layer and multi-carrier materials become more common. Examples include multiply doped or compensated regions, doping non-uniformities perpendicular to the conduction plane, 2D carriers at surfaces and interfaces, heterostructures, multiple quantum well structures, and materials with carriers populating different conduction band minima or valence band maxima. The heterostructures can contain delta-doped layers only a few atoms thick sandwiched between many other layers. Knowledge of the transport properties of all carriers present can greatly aid understanding of new materials and devices, identifying processing problems, and reducing costs by identifying good material early in the fabrication process.