Comparison between the EBIC and XBIC contrasts of dislocations and grain boundaries

The X-ray-beam-induced current (XBIC) method is used to calculate the contrasts of dislocations and grain boundaries perpendicular to a surface as a function of the diffusion length of minority charge carriers and the X-ray probe width. The results are compared with the contrasts of the same defects determined via the electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) techniques. It is demonstrated that the XBIC contrasts of grain boundaries and dislocations can be several times greater than those obtained in the EBIC mode in the case of a rather narrow X-ray beam. The XBIC contrast always exceeds that of EBIC in semiconductors with a large diffusion length even if the X-ray beam is rather wide.