Two-dimensional carrier profiling

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) carrier profiling is an important aspect of the characterization of ultra-large-scale integrated devices. Through a special measurement procedure and sample preparation it has been shown that the use of spreading resistance profiling (SRP) for this application is possible with 10–20 nm spatial resolution. Extension to the quantitative determination of a three-dimensional profile appears to be possible. Higher spatial resolution has been achieved using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) based methods whereby chemical etching and electron irradiation are investigated. For these methods detection limits down to 5×1017 cm−3 have been determined. Based on the properties of SRP (sensitivity and quantification) and TEM (high spatial resolution, on-chip application) both methods are found to be highly complementary for 2D carrier profiling.