Scanning probe microscopy based electrical characterization of thin dielectric and organic semiconductor films

•Various organic semiconductor and insulator samples have been prepared.•These structures were analyzed by advanced scanning probe microscopy techniques.•A treatment before the Pentacene deposition leads to an increased Pentacene coverage.•Local inhomogeneities of the P3HT layer induce nanoscale capacitance changes.

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques offer various characterization methods for thin organic films. However, the majority of the electrical SPM measurements is currently performed in contact mode operation and may lead to severe damage at the surface of soft organic materials. This work shows the electrical characterization of organic insulator and semiconductor films by use of two SPM techniques operating with reduced lateral forces between SPM tip and sample. The first one is intermittent-contact scanning-capacitance-microscopy (IC-SCM) which is used for the detection of the local surface capacitance. The second one is torsional resonance tunneling-atomic-force-microscopy (TR-TUNA) which shows the local conductivity respectively relative film thickness of the sample. It is found that the tunneling current distribution across 50 nm thick organic insulating films is very homogeneous and that inhomogeneities in P3HT and Pentacene films can be pinpointed even if no topographical variations are observable.