First, problems associated with the related arts will be discussed. With the conventional semiconductor device (refer to 
In measurement of the carrier lifetime of the current state, although extinction time by recombination of carriers excited at the band edge by irradiation of excitation light such as laser or ultraviolet (UV) light is measured, since penetration length of the excitation light to the measured portion (the n-type lifetime reduced layer 122) is long, the average carrier lifetime of a portion having a thickness of several tens of μm and including the measured portion is regarded as the carrier lifetime of the measured portion. Deep ultraviolet (DUV) laser is used, whereby the penetration length of the excitation light to the measured portion may be shortened.