Characterizations of Electrical Properties by the van der Pauw Method

The van der Pauw method is one of the most utilized techniques for measuring electrical properties of various materials, and it is also effective for characterizations of the transparent conductive materials. The method was developed by van der Pauw for measuring resistivity and Hall effect of samples having arbitrary shapes. This chapter summarizes the bases of the van der Pauw measurement method. The required conditions for the van der Pauw measurement are that the electrical contacts are infinitely point-like and positions of the contacts should be mounted at the ends of the measuring samples as much as possible. The chapter describes the estimations of van der Pauw measurement values in inhomogeneous compound semiconductors having various inhomogeneous patterns by finite element method (FEM) simulations. By using FEM simulation the chapter investigates incorrect carrier-type determinations in the van der Pauw Hall measurements.