Ultrathin oxides for the SCM analysis of sub-micron doping profiles

Attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) have been used to characterize oxides used for the scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) technique. SCM has been used to study boron and phosphorous doped Si test structures epitaxially grown on (100) Si substrates. SCM samples have one-dimensional (1D) doping profiles with sub-micron features, with staircase-like steps in the unipolar sample and a smoother profile in the bipolar sample, as obtained by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) profiling. Cross-sectional SCM results obtained on samples oxidized by the standard low-temperature UV-ozone method are presented, discussed and compared to results obtained on cleaved samples oxidized by a simple exposure to air. The results show that the native oxide covering a (110) cleaved section may yield SCM images of sufficient quality, with no contrast reversal on a wide range of doping levels, as well as observed on sections prepared with the UV-ozone technique. However, the long-term stability of the SCM signal on native oxides is poor, and UV-ozone oxidation can be used to recover a valid SCM signal. Realistic ultrathin oxide thickness data obtained by SE on (110) substrates are presented together with ATR results, which confirm the superior quality of UV-ozone oxides with respect to other kinds of oxides.