| Summary: | The maximum entropy method (MEM) is widely used in research fields such as linguistics, meteorology, physics, and chemistry. Recently, MEM application has become a subject of interest in the semiconductor engineering field, in which devices utilize very thin films composed of many materials. For thin film fabrication, it is essential to thoroughly understand atomic-scale structures, internal fixed charges, and bulk/interface traps, and many experimental techniques have been developed for evaluating these. However, the difficulty in interpreting the data they provide prevents the improvement of device fabrication processes. As a candidate for a very practical data analyzing technique, MEM is a promising approach to solve this problem. In this paper, we review the application of MEM to thin films used in semiconductor engineering. The method provides interesting and important information that cannot be obtained with conventional methods. This paper explains its theoretical background, important points for practical use, and application results.
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