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Resistivityandresistancemeasurements PDF
Resistivityandresistancemeasurements PDF
silicon resistivity
mobility (cm^2/V·s)
µn
1.E+01 1200
resistivity
1000
1.E+00
800
1.E-01 600
1.E-02 400
200
1.E-03
0
1.E-04 1.0E+13 1.0E+15 1.0E+17 1.0E+19 1.0E+21
1.E-05
doping (cm^-3)
1.00E+13 1.00E+15 1.00E+17 1.00E+19 1.00E+21
doping
1 1
resistivity: ⇢ = =
1µN
Reference text: “Semiconductor material and device characterization 2/e” by Dieter Schroder, John Wiley, 1998.)
EE 432/532 Resistance – 1
To measure the doping level, we can make use of simple resistance
measurements.
EE 201 approach: Make a text-book resistor from a chunk of n-type
material that has a uniform doping concentration, ND. (The exact same
approach applies to p-type material, as well.) The dimensions of the
sample are W x L x t. The current will be carried by electrons, which
have a concentration of n = ND.
t –
L +
W V
V ⇢ L ⇢
R= = = · gr
I tW t
There may be problems with contact resistance.
EE 432/532 Resistance – 2
Four-point probe method
Put 4 probes in a collinear I
arrangement onto the sample surface.
The probes are equally spaced. The
V
wafer thickness is t.
The ratio of the voltage to the current will give a quantity like a
resistance. Not surprisingly, the resistance is the product of the sample
resistivity and the a geometrical factor.
V ⇢
R= = · g4
EE 432/532 I t Resistance – 3
⇢ 1 sinh (t /s ) 1 x x
R = · g4 g4 = ln sinh (x) = e e
t ⇡ sinh (t /2s ) 2
The geometric factor accounts for how much the current is “squished” in the
layer as it flows between two outer probes. Depends on the ratio t/s.
Thick wafer
t t ⇢
>> 1 g4 ! R=
s 2⇡s 2⇡s
t ln (2) ln (2) ⇢
<< 1 g4 ! R=
s ⇡ ⇡ t
" #
1 sinh (t /s ) 1 sinh 0.4mm /1mm
g4 = ln t
= ln = 0.2269
⇡ sinh ( /2s ) ⇡ sinh (0.4mm /2mm )
ND ⇡ 9 ⇥ 1014 cm 3
EE 432/532 Resistance – 5
Sheet resistance
Look again at the resistance equation with uniform resistivity.
⇢
R= ·g
t
⇢
Rs =
t
Using sheet resistance hides the fact that the resistor has thickness. If
we know sheet resistance, then we need only to specify the resistor
dimensions on the surface of the wafer, i.e. the dimensions determined
by the mask.
EE 432/532 Resistance – 6
Going back to the simple rectangular resistor:
L
W (Top view)
⇢ L L
R= = RS
tW W
L
7 squares
W
R = 7RS
W
EE 432/532 Resistance – 7
Non-uniform doping profiles and sheet resistance
Things become a bit more complicated when the doping is not uniform.
Since doping depends on depth, then resistivity depends on depth.
1
N (x) ! ⇢ (x) =
qµN (x)
EE 432/532 Resistance – 8
As a first step in seeing how to handle non-uniform doping, consider
simple two-layer structure. Each layer is uniformly doped.
ND1 t1 ⇢1
ND2 t2 ⇢2
⇢1 L ⇢2 L
R1 = R2 =
t1 W t2 W
RT 1 = R1 1 + R2 1
t1 W t2 W t1 t2 W 1 W
= + = + = RS
⇢1 L ⇢2 L ⇢1 ⇢2 L L
EE 432/532 Resistance – 9
1 t1 t2
RS = +
⇢1 ⇢2
Of course, we can take this notion of two layers and extend it to any
number of uniformly doped layers:
X
RS 1 = q µi NDi ti
i=1
EE 432/532 Resistance – 10
We now have a path to finding the sheet resistance of a non-uniform
doping profile. By conceptually breaking the profile into many small
slices of thickness ∆x, and treating each slice as having uniform
doping,
xi <xj
X
RS 1 = q µ (xi ) N (xi ) x
i=1
EE 432/532 Resistance – 11
If mobility were constant, then the calculation would be straight-
forward (even familiar)
Z xj
RS 1 = q µ̄ N (x) dx µ̄ is an “effective mobility”
0
800
variation must be 600
200
integral, and this 0
doping (cm^-3)
2
2
✓ ◆ 0.88
cm cm NA
µp = 54.3 + 406.9 1+
V ·s V ·s 2.35 ⇥ 1017 cm 3
2
2
✓ ◆ 0.91
cm cm ND
µn = 92 + 1268 1+
EE 432/532 V ·s V ·s 1.3 ⇥ 1017 cm 3 Resistance – 12
van der Pauw measurements
Mr. van der Pauw showed that you don’t need to know the shape of a
sample to determine the sheet resistance, etc. He proved that a thin-
layer sample could have any shape, if you make the four contacts very
small and keep them at the very perimeter.
3 3
If the sample and the placement of the contacts were both perfectly
symmetric, then we expect RA = RB and we can compute sheet
resistance easily:
=
ln ( )
If the symmetry isn’t perfect, and RA is only approximately equal to RB,
then we can use the average value to get a reasonable estimate of the
sheet resistance:
⇡ RA + RB
RS ⇡
ln (2) 2
If RA and RB are very different, then we must use the top relationship to
find the sheet resistance. It’s not trivial, but it’s not hard either.
EE 432/532 Resistance – 14
Usually, we try to make the sample symmetrical (a circle or a square),
but we can never exactly meet the requirements that the contacts be
negligibly small and be exactly at the periphery. To minimize these
errors induced by the imperfect contacts, we can use slightly modified
shapes.
Question: Why not measure all four resistance configurations and take
the average of those? Ans: Part of the vdP’s proof was that the other
two measurements are redundant, i.e. V34/I12 = V12/I34 and V23/I14 = V41/
I23.
EE 432/532 Resistance – 15
Example
In a van der Pauw measurement of a uniformly doped p-type layer in a
silicon wafer, the two measured resistances are 250 Ω and 400 Ω.
(Apparently, the sample was not very symmetric.) Determine the sheet
resistance of the layer. If the layer is 5 µm thick, determine the wafer
resistivity and doping concentration.
RA and RB are not real close together, but we can try the approximate
formula, using the average resistance value:
+
=
ln ( )
+
= =
ln ( )
Using the exact formula, which requires some numerical iteration, gives
= so the approximate formula was not so far off (≈ 2%).
The resistivity of the layer would be " = (1445 Ω)(0.0005 cm) = 0.723
Ω-cm. From the graph (or the web calculator), the p-type doping
concentration is NA ≈ 2.1 x 1016 cm–3.
EE 432/532 Resistance – 16
Example
Calculate the sheet resistance of an n-type layer formed by an n-type
constant-source (Gaussian) diffusion with Q = 1014 cm–2 and Dt = 10–9
cm2. The junction depth is 2 µm.
( )= exp = . exp
.
( )
µ ( )= + +
· · .
= µ ( ) ( )
There are no short cuts here. The only choice is to carry out a
numerical integration. Your calculator might handle it. Matlab or
Mathematica would will certainly do the calculation. I used a
spreadsheet.
EE 432/532 Resistance – 17
Example
Calculate the sheet resistance of an n-type layer formed by ion
implantation. For the implant, Q = 1013 cm–3, RP = 0.2 µm, and #RP
=0.05 µm. The junction depth is 0.4 µm.
( ) ( . )
( )= exp = exp
.
( )
µ ( )= + +
· · .
EE 432/532 Resistance – 18