We will describe the measurement apparatus and discuss the experimental conditions for high spatial resolution (1µm) and wafer scale (up to 8 inch) photoluminescence mappings in the spectral range from 0.3µ m to 5.5µm.

Then, we will demonstrate the capabilities of room temperature spectrally integrated scanning photoluminescence (SR-SPL) for ultra-fast and non-destructive imaging of the distribution of dislocations, precipitates, impurities and other point and extended defects in semiconductor substrates (GaAs, InP, Si, GaSb) and related epitaxial structures for device applications.

We will also describe the application of room temperature spectrally resolved scanning photoluminescence (SR-SPL) measurements for routine control of the compositional and strain uniformity of advanced epitaxial III-V structures for microelectronic and optoelectronic devices (including MESFETs, HEMTs, HBTs, LEDs, semiconductor lasers, and selectively grown MQW epitaxial structures for integrated optoelectronics). This control is based on the imaging of the spatial distribution of the amplitude, the peak position, the full width at half maximum and of the center wavelength at half maximum of the photoluminescence bands (0.1 nm reproducibility at RT) followed by appropriate data treatment and interpretation.

Finally, we will show examples of application of SPL measurements for industrial in-line quality control of the fabrication of IR photo detectors for space applications and of semiconductor laser structures. We will demonstrate that SPL measurements after successive steps in the process allow the prediction of the fabrication yield of the devices with the desired optical and electrical characteristics.