Semiconductor materials
AFM Scan Results

Our Nano-Observer AFM series is a powerful tool for semiconductor research, offering unparalleled precision in surface morphology, electrical characterization, and mechanical property analysis at the nanoscale. Utilizing cutting-edge techniques such as HD-KFM III and ResiScope, it enables detailed studies of semiconductor materials, from advanced device fabrication to quality assurance. Designed for both research and industrial applications, it ensures accurate, high-resolution data to drive innovation in semiconductor technology.

Images

SIC Doping Profile

ResiScope measurement on a cross-section of a silicon substrate of 500 nm with regions with increasing level of carrier concentration (staircase type). Topography (top) image of the sample; polishing vertical lines are visible. (middle and bottom) Resistance map and its cross-section profile respectively. The doped regions range from 100 ohms to 1 Mohm (from right to left). This shows the capability of ResiScope to track differences in realtime with several orders of magnitude in difference (from 10^2 to 10^6 ohms) without loosing sensitivity.

VO2 - Vanadium Dioxide

ResiScope image on a Metal to Insulate VO2 sample (10 microns). By controlling the thickness of the film it is possible to generate a morphology with VO2 blocks with different resistance separated by insulating VO2 walls. Thanks to the realtime adjustment of the gains it is possible to measure the resistance differences with high sensitivity.

SRAM

HD-KFM image of an SRAM Memory device (50 micron size). Surface potential image shows clear distinction between p, n and n+ regions with high sensitivity without showing saturation.

HD-KFM image (10 microns size) of trench

Linear Electrodes

HD-KFM image (10 microns size) of 3 biased linear electrodes on silicon surface(bias 1 volt) . The surface potential shows homogeneous value on the surface of the electrodes (dark blue areas) but also lateral difusión of the surface potential around the electores (cyan areas)

Transistor

ResiScope image of a transistor device (1.5 micron size) . Image was obtained over a polished cleaved device showing part of the drain and gate areas. Resistance map is capable of distinguishing between p, n and n+ regions (blue, green and red).

Silicon Doped Structure

HD-KFM image of a silicon doped structure (3 microns size) consisting on implanted n-dopped square structures (red color). The high sensitivity of the HD-KFM allows to clearly detect the lateral difusion of the implantation around the square (yellow shadow around the square structure).

Doped dots

ResiScope image of a semiconductor sample (50 micron size) with increasing doped dots. Resistance image shows clearly the position of the dopped dots with decreasing resistance from left to right due to increasing doping levels.

Silicon Solar Cell

ResiScope measurement on a silicon solar cell. (Top) current image close to the edge of the solar cell. The multilayer structure is visible (red ,green, blue and dark blue areas). More importantly, the high speed response of the ResiScope allows to identify a thin layer ( bottom) in the blue region of 30 nm lateral size. This heavy doped layer is known as “Back Surface Field” and allows to prevent recombination at the back of the solar cell and increase the efficiency. This sample shows 3 main aspects of ResiScope:
High dinamic range : from 150 pA -90 µA.
Fast dinamic response: capable of detecting the BSF.
Current limit (protective resistance): tipically a high current of 90 µA implies damage on either the tip coating or the sample.

Videos

SRAM

VO2

Application Notes - Semiconductors

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Semiconductor materials AFM Scan Results

Images

Videos

Application Notes - Semiconductors

Semiconductor materials
AFM Scan Results