Electrical measurement of resistivity fluctuations associated with striations in silicon crystals

In order to investigate the resistivity fluctuations associated with striations in silicon crystals, the silicon surface was supplied with an arrangement of closely spaced (10 µm) nonblocking aluminum-silicon contacts. The resistivity was measured using a Wheatstone bridge technique. In addition, we used the aluminum-silicon contacts for spreading resistance measurements. Measurements with aluminum-silicon contacts can be repeated, e.g., to demonstrate reproducibility. This is in contrast to the methods using a sequence of direct contacts between the metal probe and the silicon surface.