Intermittent contact scanning capacitance microscopy-An improved method for 2D doping profiling

In the present study an improved method for 2D doping profiling of semiconductor device structures is presented. The method combines the capabilities of scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) with the advantages of intermittent contact atomic force microscopy (IC-AFM) and is called intermittent contact scanning capacitance microscopy (IC-SCM). Compared with standard SCM, IC-SCM provides mechanically stable measurement conditions because tip wear is nearly eliminated. Furthermore, background signals without local information are suppressed by demodulating the SCM signal at higher harmonics of the tapping tip frequency. Both, reduced tip wear and higher harmonics demodulation yield improved spatial image resolution at less tip degradation compared with standard SCM.