How Humidity Affects on Scanning Nonlinear Dielectric Microscope

Abstract

The dopant type and carrier concentration in a patterned semiconductor sample with three different doping regions were measured by scanning nonlinear dielectric microscope (SNDM). SNDM is used in the way of a scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) with a new detection mechanism based on frequency detection. The topographic, pn-distribution and the carrier concentration images of a patterned semiconductor sample were measured at the same time. In concurrence with a demonstration of the SNDM-SCM measurements, the influence of an adsorbed water layer on measurements is evaluated in the vacuum and in the air over a relative humidity (RH) range of 20 to 80%. Adverse affects on capacitance measurements due to the variation in RH are revealed. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2006.454]