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, van, der and/or method:

    Less is more.
    —Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886–1969)

    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?)

    Unlike Descartes, we own and use our beliefs of the moment, even in the midst of philosophizing, until by what is vaguely called scientific method we change them here and there for the better. Within our own total evolving doctrine, we can judge truth as earnestly and absolutely as can be, subject to correction, but that goes without saying.
    Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)