Nanoscale Capacitance and Capacitance-Voltage Curves for Advanced Characterization of Electrical Properties of Si and GaN Structures Using Scanning Microwave Impedance Microscopy

Abstract

Abstract The use of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) electrical measurement modes is a critical tool for the study of semiconductor devices and process development. A relatively new electrical mode, scanning microwave impedance microscopy (sMIM), measures a material’s change in permittivity and conductivity at the scale of an AFM probe tip [1]. sMIM provides the real and imaginary impedance (Re(Z) and Im(Z)) of the probe-sample interface. By measuring the reflected microwave signal as a sample of interest is imaged with an AFM, we can in parallel capture the variations in permittivity and conductivity and, for doped semiconductors, variations in the depletion-layer geometry. An existing technique for characterizing doped semiconductors, scanning capacitance microscopy, modulates the tip-sample bias and detects the tip-sample capacitance with a lock-in amplifier. A previous study compares sMIM to SCM and highlights the additional capabilities of sMIM [2], including examples of nano-scale capacitance-voltage curves. In this paper we focus on the detailed mechanisms and capabilities of the nano-scale C-V curves and the ability to extract semiconductor properties from them. This study includes analytical and finite element modeling of tip bias dependent depletion-layer geometry and impedance. These are compared to experimental results on reference samples for both doped Si and GaN doped staircases to validate the systematic response of the sMIM-C (capacitive) channel to the doping concentration.