Development of in situ optical–electrical MEMS platform for semiconductor characterization

Highlights: • A state-of-the-art chip-based in-situ optical-electrical test platform was fabricated by MEMS technology and designed to fit commercial in-situ heating holders. • The high stability, low drift-rate and long-lifetime of the in-situ chip under the illumination condition facilities atomic resolution S/TEM imaging and spectrum mapping of the sample. • An in situ photoconductivity experiment that was performed on a silicon carbide (SiC) nanowire demonstrates a good performance of the optical–electrical chip designed in this work. In situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technology has become one of the fastest growing areas in TEM research in recent years. This technique allows researchers to investigate the dynamic response of materials to external stimuli inside the microscope. Optoelectronic functional semiconducting materials play an irreplaceable role in several key fields such as clean energy, communications, and pollution disposal. The ability to observe the dynamic behavior of these materials under real working conditions using advanced TEM technologies would provide an in-depth understanding of their working mechanisms, enabling further improvement of their properties. In this work, we designed a microelectromechanical-system-chip-based system to illuminate a sample inside a transmission electron microscope. This system allows simultaneous in situ optical and electrical measurements, which are crucial for optoelectronic semiconductor characterization.