Five-probe method for finite samples - an enhancement of the van der Pauw method

Abstract

A new five-point method for measuring the sheet resistance of finite samples of any shape is presented. The method is strict for point-size contacts and is a kind of extension of the van der Pauw method. Three contacts have to be located at the periphery of the sample while the other two can be at arbitrary positions. A particularly useful measurement geometry is keeping the three periphery contacts at constant positions and scanning the sample’s interior with the two other contacts with a constant separation between them. In this way, the local sheet resistance and thus homogeneity can be measured irrespectively of the location of the sample’s border. The results of experimental measurements are fully consistent with the presented theory and results of numerical simulations.