Electrical Conductivity Measurements – An In-Depth Look

The Hall Effect Measurement System with Temperature Controller enables electrical property measurements at 77K and from RT to 623K (350C)

Ecopia HMS-3000 Hall Effect Measurement System measures electrical conductivity, carrier concentration, mobility, Hall coefficient, and magnetoresistance of thin samples

The Ecopia HMS-3000 Hall effect measurement system precisely measures carrier concentration, Sheet concentration, Mobility, Conductivity, Sheet resistance, average Hall coefficient, Resistivity, B-D Cross Hall Coefficient, A-C Cross Hall Coefficient, Alpha (Vertical/Horizontal ratio of resistance), and Magnetoresistance of a thin sample.

It is applicable for characterizing various materials, including semiconductors and compound semiconductors (both N Type & P Type) such as Si, Ge, SiGe, SiC, GaAs, InGaAs, InP, GaN, ZnO, TCOs, metals, etc., at temperatures of both 300K and 77K (room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature).

The equipment utilizes the van der Pauw technique for these measurements, a method widely adopted for determining the Resistivity and Hall Coefficient of a sample. Its key advantage lies in its precision in assessing sample properties, irrespective of the sample’s shape, provided it’s roughly two-dimensional (meaning significantly thinner than its width) and the electrodes are placed around its perimeter. However, five conditions must be met for this technique to be effective:

  1. The sample must be flat and of uniform thickness.
  2. The sample must be free of isolated holes.
  3. The sample must be homogeneous and isotropic.
  4. All four contacts must be positioned at the sample’s edges.
  5. The contact area of each electrode should be at least ten times smaller than the total sample area.

The Ecopia HMS-3000 Hall Effect Measurement System has the following capabilities:

• Carrier Density from 107/cm3 to 1021/cm3

• Resistivity from 10-4 to 107 ohm-cm

• Mobility from 1 to 107 cm2/Vs

• Input DC Current from 1nA to 20 mA

• Output Voltage 12V

• Magnetic Flux Density 0.55T

• Sample Measurable Size 5mm x 5mm to 20mm x 20mm

• Sample Measurable Thickness: Less than 1.5 mm

• Sample Measurable Temperature at 77K and from RT to 623K (350 C)

The electrical properties of a thin sample are being measured

Examples of Materials Measured

Solar cells

OPVs, a:Si, µc-Si, CdTe, CuInGaSe (CIGS)

Organic electronics

OTFTs, Pentacene, Chalcogenides, OLEDs

Transparent conducting oxides

InSnO (ITO), ZnO, GaZnO, InGaZnO (IGZO)

III-V semiconductors

InP, InSb, InAs, GaN, GaP, GaSb, AIN based devices, high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and heterojunction bipolar transistors

II-VI semiconductors

CdS, CdSe, ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe, HgCdTe

Elemental semiconductors

Ge, Si on insulator devices (SOI), SiC, doped diamond SiGe based devices: HBTs and FETs

Dilute magnetic semiconductors

GaMnAs, MnZnO

Half-Heusler compounds

TiNiSn, ZrNiSn, GdPtBi

Topological semi-metals

TaAs, WTe2, MoTe2

Topological insulators

Bi2Te3, Bi2Se3, Sb2Te3

Transition-metal Di-chalcogenides (TMDC)

WS2, WSe2, MoS2, HfS2

Other 2D materials

BN, graphene structures

Other conducting materials

Metal oxides

Organic and inorganic conductors

Metal Films and Coatings Thinner than 20 micrometers

High temperature superconductors

Contact Dr. Priyanshu Banerjee at 1-410-740-8562 or Priyanshu@andersonmaterials.com