A battery container with battery plates contained therein is retained by a container positioner. Electrical signals are applied, and measured results indicate the probe needle’s location relative to a test position on the semiconductor device. A non-wide band-gap semiconductor layer having the second conductivity type is provided on the first wide band-gap semiconductor layer. The range of voltages covered causes, from one pulse to another, the appearance or disappearance of electrochemical phenomena in the vicinity of the active electrodes.