Carrier Profiling Technology in Ten Nanometers Devices

The advanced carrier concentration evaluation scheme was proposed with combined higher precise scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM) measurement and technology-CAD (TCAD) analysis in this paper. The cyclic contact (CC) method was applied to variation reduction of SSRM resistance to more accurately characterize for the device. The CC method suppresses dust generation. The variation of resistance with the CC method decreased drastically less than 10%. SSRM resistances were corrected to obtain the potential drop in the probe and other resistance component in the measurement system using TCAD analyses. The effective contact probe tip radius was derived from TCAD analysis. The optimization of both sample and measurement conditions were obtained before the actual measurement. The electrical phenomenon in the device measurement can be known by the TCAD analysis. The SSRM measurement of advanced flash memory was successfully demonstrated with adapted these technologies. This result suggests strongly that 10 nm order size device can be measured by using SSRM with the CC method.