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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Brice GAUTIER: Professeur des Universités, Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, Université de Lyon, UMR CNRS 5270, Villeurbanne, FRANCE
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Pascal CHRÉTIEN: CNRS Research Engineer, Paris Electrical and Electronic Engineering Laboratory, UMR 8507 CNRS-Centrale-Supélec, Universités Paris-Sud and UPMC, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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Khalifa AGUIR: University Professor, Institut Matériaux Microélectronique Nanosciences de Provence (IM2NP), UMR CNRS 7334 Marseille, France
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Frédéric HOUZÉ: CNRS Researcher, Laboratoire de génie électrique et électronique de Paris, UMR 8507 CNRS-Centrale-Supélec, Universités Paris-Sud and UPMC, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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Olivier SCHNEEGANS: CNRS Researcher, Laboratoire de génie électrique et électronique de Paris, UMR 8507 CNRS-Centrale-Supélec, Universités Paris-Sud and UPMC, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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Johannes HOFFMANN: Engineer, Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology, METAS, Bern-Wabern, Switzerland
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Nicolas CHEVALIER: Research Engineer, CEA, LETI, MINATEC Campus, F-38054 Grenoble, France
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Łukasz BOROWIK: Research Engineer, CEA, LETI, MINATEC Campus, F-38054 Grenoble, France
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Dominique DERESMES: Research Engineer, IEMN (Institut d'Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie) UMR 8520, CNRS, Université de Lille, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
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Pierre GOURNAY: Principal Physicist, Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Sèvres, France
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Philippe MAILLOT: Quality/Metrology Manager in Research and Development, STMicroelectronics, Technology Center, Rousset, France
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François PIQUEMAL: Research Engineer, Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d'Essais, Trappes, France
INTRODUCTION
The measurement techniques described in this article are based on near-field microscopy adapted to local measurements of electrical quantities on the nanometric scale, commonly known as electrical Scanning Probe Microscopy (eSPM). These techniques involve scanning a tip near or on the surface of a sample to obtain, simultaneously or not, the topographic image and local physical properties at the nanometric scale. When the tips used are conductive, the application of electrical excitation between the tip and the surface to be imaged enables the measurement of local quantities such as current and impedance (resistance and capacitance), or electric field and surface potential via the measurement of electrostatic force gradients.
eSPM techniques are widely used by the microelectronics industry during the research, development and qualification (failure testing) stages of electronic nanocircuits and nanocomponents. In particular, they can be used to extract key properties for their operation, such as the charge carrier density distribution of a semiconductor structure, the two-dimensional dopant concentration profile in the source-drain region of a transistor, the work function of different grains in a metal film or graphene sheet, or the leakage current or breakdown electric field in a very thin dielectric layer.
However, despite considerable progress over the last two decades, electrical local probe microscopy is not yet accepted as a truly quantitative experimental technique, due to a lack of suitable metrological tools (electrical reference standards, calibration methods, measurement protocols, multi-range modeling). In particular, the influence on measurement results of parameters that are not sufficiently controlled, such as coating wear and tip shape, the nature of the tip-sample contact, parasitic electrical quantities (capacitance), and environmental conditions (humidity, temperature, contaminants, electric fields, etc.) is still poorly assessed or not understood, and is a hindrance to the assessment of reliable measurement uncertainties that are essential for establishing a correct metrological approach. Even today, in most cases, measurement uncertainty exceeds 100%.
The development of such a metrological approach dedicated to local probe microscopy should enable us to effectively support the constant miniaturization towards the nanometric scale of the elementary building blocks making up electronic circuits, and the development of new technologies such as three-dimensional multifunctional integrated circuits, by offering reliable quantitative analysis of their performance and an understanding of the physical mechanisms on which they are based. In this way, electrical local probe microscopy will meet the requirements of the information...
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