Van Der Pauw Method

The van der Pauw Method is a technique commonly used to measure the resistivity and the Hall coefficient of a sample. Its power lies in its ability to accurately measure the properties of a sample of any arbitrary shape, so long as the sample is approximately two-dimensional (i.e. it is much thinner than it is wide) and the electrodes are placed on its perimeter.

From the measurements made, the following properties of the material can be calculated:

  • The resistivity of the material
  • The doping type (i.e. whether it is a P-type or N-type material)
  • The sheet carrier density of the majority carrier (the number of majority carriers per unit area). From this the charge density and doping level can be found
  • The mobility of the majority carrier

The method was first propounded by Leo J. van der Pauw in 1958 .

Read more about Van Der Pauw Method:  Conditions, Sample Preparation, Measurement Definitions, Resistivity Measurements

Famous quotes containing the words van, der and/or method:

    The line that I am urging as today’s conventional wisdom is not a denial of consciousness. It is often called, with more reason, a repudiation of mind. It is indeed a repudiation of mind as a second substance, over and above body. It can be described less harshly as an identification of mind with some of the faculties, states, and activities of the body. Mental states and events are a special subclass of the states and events of the human or animal body.
    —Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)

    Under the lindens on the heather,
    There was our double resting-place.
    —Walther Von Der Vogelweide (1170?–1230?)

    The insidiousness of science lies in its claim to be not a subject, but a method. You could ignore a subject; no subject is all-inclusive. But a method can plausibly be applied to anything within the field of consciousness.
    Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)