An investigation of electrical transport properties through a monolithic square-configured micro-four-point probe with ultra-sharp tips

A monolithic square-configured micro-four-point probe (μ4pp) is proposed and fabricated for manipulation and measurement. It has several advantages in terms of the geometry and the practicality of modes of operation. Thus, it enables a convenient approach for investigating the properties of materials, notably the electrical resistivity and hall mobility of semiconductor materials, which are a favorite in modern electronic systems. The sharp tips in the square configuration guarantee high accuracy for the van der Pauw measurement. The flexible spacing between tips, which can be customized through conventional silicon-based micro-machining methods, also greatly facilitates the investigation of the properties of sample structures with down-scaled dimensions. The measurement of the surface conductivity and the Hall effect are performed to successfully study charge transport in metal and semiconductor samples. The measurement results and analysis are discussed in detail.