Method for determining a dopant concentration in a semiconductor sample

US7841015B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. · DE

Inventors

• Walter Arnold · Saarburg, DE
• Kerstin Schwarz · Rehlingen-Siersburg, DE
• Ute Rabe · Saarburg, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 28, 2007
• Grant date: Nov 23, 2010
• Expiry date: May 18, 2027

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01Q60/40
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A method is described for determining a dopant concentration on a surface and/or in layer region lying close to the surface of a semiconductor sample using an atomic force microscope, whose leaf-spring tip is brought into contact with the semiconductor sample, forming a Schottky barrier, wherein an electric alternating potential is applied between the spring-leaf tip and the semiconductor sample in the region of the Schottky barrier in such a way that a space charge region inside the semiconductor sample defining the three-dimensional extension of the Schottky barrier is excited and begins to oscillate within the confines of its spatial extension, said oscillations are transmitted to the leaf-spring, are detected and form the basis for determining the dopant concentration.