Principle of Hall Measurement

 Usually works for unipolar sample (i.e n>>p or p>>n)

Consider a p-type material

P-type

Wd Vp
The resistivity is 
L I
If a magnetic field (B) along Z-direction is applied

The carrier will respond to Lorentz Force resulted from the magnetic field
 Principle of Hall Measurement

P-type

The Lorentz Force

   
F  q(E v x B)
F is the force acting on the particle
q is he charge of the particle
E is the electric field (along y)
v is the velocity of carrier (along x)
vXB (Source: Wikipedia)
B is the magnetic field (along z)
(along y)
Based on right-hand rule, the positive charge experience a force in in the negative y-diection
 Principle of Hall Measurement

P-type

   
The Lorentz Force F  q(E v x B)
1. Supply current I BI I = Q/t=(nqAd)/(d/vd)
2. Apply magnetic field B Ey  Bv x  =nqAvd (A= w x d)
3. Adjust VH to maintain I (along y) qwdp
(counterforce to keep VH 0 0
BI BI
Holes from being bend
by Lorentz force)
 dV  VH    Eydy    qwdp dy  qdp
0 w w

dVH
RH  (Hall Coefficient; unit: cm3/C)
BI
Principle of Hall Measurement

BI dVH
From VH  RH  (Hall Coefficient; unit: cm3/C)
qdp BI
RH can be measured through VH, B, I

1 1
Carrier Density p n
qR H qR H

1  RH
Hall Mobility: qpp   
 RH 
 Hall Measurement
2
2 3
1
1 4 3
6 5 4

Hall Bar Van der Pauw

t R12,34  R 23,41
 F( )
ln 2 2
Rr  1 F exp(ln 2 / F)
 cosh1( )
Rr  1 ln 2 2
• Force current between 1 and 4
• Hall voltage between 2 & 6 and R 12 ,34
Use Symmetric sample Rr  1 F=1
between 3 & 5 R 23 ,41
V
1 2
dR 23,41
RH 
4 3 I B
R 23,41 is the difference
between with and
without Magnetic field
 Outline

 Metal Semiconductor Contacts

 Contact resistance
 Contact resistance Measurement
 Schottky Barrier (& Diode)
 I-V
 C-V
(Schroder Chapter 3)
 Diode (PN Junction)
 I-V
(Schroder Chapter 4, 4-2)
 Metal Semiconductor Contact
Depletion Accumulation

E0 E0 E0

FM  F FM  F  F
S S FM S
EC EC EC
EF EF EF EF EF
Ei Ei Ei
EF
EV EV EV

Metal Semiconductor Metal Semiconductor Semiconductor

Metal

qVb
FB

X X X
W W
 Schottky Contact
N-type P-type

E0 E0

FM  F FM  F
S S
EC EC
EF EF
Ei Ei
EF EF
EV EV

Metal Semiconductor Metal Semiconductor

qVb
FB FB

X X
W W
 Ohmic Contact
For N-type semiconductor, the Ohmic contact usually is
1. Heavily doped
2. Work function FMFS
Work Function Adjustment

FM  F
S
EF
Ei

Heavily Doped Ohmic Layer Metal Semiconductor

X
W
 Emission Processes

Thermionic Low ND

Thermionic/
Medium ND
Field Emission

Field Emission
High ND
(Tunneling)
 Emission Process
Characteristic Energy
q: unit of charge
h: planck’s constant
qh N
E00  N: doping concentration
4   0 r m*tun 0: Vacuum permittivity
r: Relative permittivity
11 N(cm 3 )
 1.86 x10 (eV ) m*tun: effective mass for tunneling
 0 r (mtun / m)
*

a characteristic energy that characterizes the

tunneling process

KT >> E00: Thermionic Emission (TE)

KT E00: Thermionic Field Emission (TFE)

kT<< E00: Field Emission (FE)

TE: E00 ≤ 0.5 kT,

TFE: 0.5 kT < E00 < 5 kT, (Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL AND DEVICE
FE: E00 ≥ 5 kT. CHARACTERIZATION, D. K. Schroder,
3rd Edition, p. 130)
Emission Processes
FE TFE TE
Thermionic Emission

Thermionic/Field
Emission

Contact type and I-V

characteristic is controlled by
Doping and barrier width.
Field Emission

(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL AND DEVICE

CHARACTERIZATION, D. K. Schroder,
3rd Edition, p. 131)
 Contact Resistance

For the resistance that is very close to the contact surface (Interface)

x ->0, there is still a resistance

V

L A I

we define the L
interfacial (contact) resistivity as c
Therefore, c has a unit of RA x

Unit is -cm2
 Thermionic Theory
Electron can cross the interface from S->M
Kinetic Energy  1
mv 2x  q(Vb  VA )
2
e- I 2q
B Vb (Before Bias) vx  (Vb  VA )
m*
IS M  qAv xn(v x ) at a given vx
M S vm in
JS M  q  v xn(v x )dv x

A*: Richardson Constant The carrier with speed exceeding vmin
follows Boltzman distribution
A*= 4πqk2m*/h3
 4mn*2kT  EF  Ec  mn*2v2x
=120(m*/m) A/cm2·K2 n(vx )   3
 exp( ) exp( )
 h  kT 2kT
It can be derived that
 4qmn* k 2  2  qB qV
JS M   3
T exp( ) exp( A )
 h  kT kT
 qB qV
 A * T 2 exp( ) exp( A )
kT kT
 qB qV  qB
JS M  A * T 2 exp( ) exp( A ) JMS  A * T 2 exp( ) (VA=0)
kT kT kT
 qB qV
J  JMS  JS M  A * T 2 exp( )(exp( A  1)
kT kT
Specific Contact Resistivity-Thermionic

The thermionic current density through a Schottky junction

 qB qV
J  JMS  JS M  A * T 2 exp( )(exp( A  1)
kT kT

Defining the specific contact resistivity

dJ 1 k qB qB
i  ( ) i  exp( )  1 exp( )
qA * T kT kT
dV V  0
A* is Richardson constant= 110A/cm2k2, if B=0.6V

c 1600 -cm2

 Specific Interfacial (Contact) Resistivity

Thermionic

qB k  4qmn* k 2  m*
i  1 exp( ) 1  A*   3

  120
kT qA * T  h  m0

Thermionic-Field

qB
i  1C1 exp( ) E0  E00 coth E00 / kT
E0

Field Emission
eh ND C3
qB E00  c  1C2 exp( )
i  1C2 exp( ) 4 0 rm*tun ND
E00
C3 contains B
c = i
Contact Resistance
Contact to N/P type Si

(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL AND DEVICE

CHARACTERIZATION, D. K. Schroder,
3rd Edition, p. 134)
Contact Resistance

(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL AND DEVICE

CHARACTERIZATION, D. K. Schroder,
3rd Edition, p. 134)
 Contact Resistance
Dependence of Contact Resistance on Temperature

=> Higher doping, less dependency

(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL AND DEVICE

CHARACTERIZATION, D. K. Schroder,
3rd Edition, p. 134)
 Outline

 Metal Semiconductor Contacts

 Contact resistance
 Contact resistance Measurement
 Schottky Barrier (& Diode)
 I-V
 C-V
(Schroder Chapter 3)
 Diode (PN Junction)
 I-V
(Schroder Chapter 4, 4-2)
2 Terminal Contact & Contact Chain
Cross-section Top view

N contact chain with 2N

Contacts (N~50-100)

(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL AND DEVICE

CHARACTERIZATION, D. K. Schroder,
3rd Edition, p. 137)
 Contact Chain

• Difficult to distinguish among

Rm, Rs and Rc
• Process control monitors
for layer to layer contacts

• There are also contacts between

metal to metal to check Via etch

R=N(Rm+RS+2RC)
 3 Terminal Contact Resistance

RT1 RT2

Z W
d1 d2

R shdi
R Ti   2R c i=1, 2 Solve the equation
(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL AND DEVICE
W
CHARACTERIZATION, D. K. Schroder,
3rd Edition, p. 139)
R T 2d1  R T1d2
Rc 
2(d1  d2 )

This method dose not consider current crowding, can be used to

check contact resistance (for Process Monitor) only (not contact resistivity).
 Current Crowding
(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR
MATERIAL AND DEVICE
CHARACTERIZATION, D. Distributed Resistor Model
K. Schroder, 3rd Edition,
p. 141)
Metal

N-type
c

the current choosing the Rsh

path of least resistance I

(Transfer Length)

The voltage is highest near the contact edge x = 0 and

drops nearly exponentially with distance.

The “1/e” distance of the voltage curve is defined as

the transfer length LT
Contact Resistance Testkeys
V
I Contact Front I V
Contact end

Transfer Length Method Cross-bridge

Kelvin
I
V

1 W 2 Z
L
3

Circular Transmission line

 Measurement of Contact resistance
From Previous Page Lx
cosh( ) c
V(x) 
I R shc LT LT 
z L R sh
sinh( )
LT
V(x): voltage at point x
X: distance from one edge
Rsh: sheet resistance V

c: Specific contact resistivity I

L: length of contact
LT: Transfer length 1 2

L x
 Contact Front Method
Lx L
cosh( ) cosh( )
I R shc LT I R shc LT
V(x)  V(0) 
z L z L
sinh( ) sinh( )
LT LT
Contact front resistance (Rcf)
V
I R shc R shc L
I
V(0) 
L
coth( ) R cf  coth( )
z LT z LT

Z W c
1 2 LT 
R sh
(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR
MATERIAL AND DEVICE
c L CHARACTERIZATION, D.

0 L
x R cf  coth( ) K. Schroder, 3rd Edition,
p. 142)
LT z LT
Assume Z~ W

Typical specific contact resistivities L L c

are ρc ≤ 10−6 ohm·cm2 for good L0.5LT coth( )  T R cf 
contacts. LT L Lz
For (Make thin contact line)
The transfer length is on the order Simplification L c
of 1 μm or less for such contacts. L1.5LT coth( ) 1 R cf 
LT LT z
 Contact End Method

Assume Z~ W Lx L L
cosh( ) cosh( )
I R shc LT I R shc LT
V(x)  V(L) 
z L z L
I V sinh( ) sinh( )
LT LT

1 2 Z W
I R shc cosh( 0) I R shc 1
V(L)  V(L) 
z L z L
sinh( ) sinh( )
LT LT
x
0 L
Contact end resistance (RCE)
c 1
R ce 
L T z sinh( L )
LT
 Cross-Bridge Kelvin Probe
Force the current 3
I
V
1
(I:current) ZW 2
1 W 2 Z
L Practical L
(Approximation)
3

V34 c  4 (V:voltage)
Rc = = = c
I12 Ac LZ
Measured voltage
(Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL AND DEVICE across pad
CHARACTERIZATION, D. K. Schroder,
3rd Edition, p. 150)
We want to design the structure
to avoid effect from  (i.e. =0)
The textbook described the effect of mis-align
 on the measured results. 

Usually, we make want to isolate the doping area

and metal pad covers the doping area
 Circular Transmission Line

d Cicular structure
L
to avoid effect
from 

It is derived that for radius L >> 4LT

Rsh LT LT d
RT = ( + + ln( 1 + ))
2 L L + d L

For L>>d

c
LT =
Rsh Rsh
RT = ( d + 2 LT )
2
L d
C = ln( 1 + ) (Ref: SEMICONDUCTOR
d L Know Rsh, RT, get LT and c
MATERIAL AND DEVICE
CHARACTERIZATION, D. K.
Schroder, 3rd Edition, p. 145)
 Transfer Length Method-1
RT
d1 d2 d3 d4

Z
2Rc
d
R shd
RT   2R c
Z
Example: Ohmic Contacts for p-
channel InGaSb

• Measure the total resistance RT as

function of separation d
• The Slope is Rsh/Z, the intercept is Rc
• To avoid current crowding effect, the
nano-scale metal pads are used.
IEEE Electron Device
Letters 36, no. 6 (June 2015): 546–548
 Transfer Length Method-2
RT
d1 d2 d3 d4

Z
2Rc
d
L
• For more detailed analysis:
Consider the Rsh below contact is altered by the metal
Rsk: the sheet resistance below metal contact.
R d R d 2R skL TK
R T  sh  2R c  sh 
Z Z Z
R
 sh [d  2(R sk / R sh )L TK ] Eq (1)
Z

c 1 R ce 1
c R ce   Obtain LTK by contact end and
LTK  L TKz sinh( L ) R cf cosh( L ) contact front method,
R sk L TK L TK So we know Rsk from Eq (1)
 Circular Transmission Line

Multiple ring to create

(Ref: IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS, VOL. 36, NO. more contact interface
6, JUNE 2015)
But avoid current
crowding effect
 Contact Resistance
Nanometer 3D Device
Contact area ~ 20 nm

<20 nm

Advance CMOS contact area is at the range of 20 nm x 20 nm

 Ohmic Contact-Silicide

Doping Conc. + Metal Work function

(Ref: Tomonori Nishimura, Applied Physics Determines c
Letters 91, 123123 (2007))
(ref: 2015 15th International Workshop on
Junction Technology (IWJT))

Metal workfunction has to consider the N-P MOSFET balance if use

common Silicide
 Ohmic Contact-Silicide

General Flow for Ohmic Contact

S/D by Epitaxy
Schottky Barrier Reduce implant
Pre-Silicide Amorphization implant
Metal Dep.
Silicide Formation
Activation anneal

(ref: 2015 15th International Workshop on

Junction Technology (IWJT))
 Ohmic Contact –III-V
• Specific contact resistance by tunneling compare
C3
c  1C2 exp( )
ND
• N > 5e19 for barrier thickness ~2.5nm
• Additional process knobs usually required for better ohmic contact
InGaAs GaN
• Ni, Pt, Pd reacts with InGaAs < 300C to form stable
compound

•N diffused form TiAlN

•GaN become N-type due
to N vacancies.
 Outline

 Metal Semiconductor Contacts

 Contact resistance
 Contact resistance Measurement
 Schottky Barrier (& Diode)
 I-V
 C-V
(Schroder Chapter 3)
 Diode (PN Junction)
 I-V
(Schroder Chapter 4, 4-2)
 Schottky Diode

Schottky Diode is a good device for power converting application

 Low turn-on voltage compared with PN junctions
 Use wide band gap materials (SiC, GaN) to make schottky diode for
high voltage

Semiconductor Metal Semiconductor Semiconductor

Metal Metal

q(Vb-VA) q(Vb-VA)
qVb
FB FB FB

X
 Schottky Barrier Height (I-V)
 qB qV
J  A * T 2 exp( )(exp( A  1)
kT nkT

 qB qV
I  AA * T 2 exp( )(exp( A  1)
kT nkT

 qB qV qV
I  AA * T 2 exp( )(exp( A  1)  Is (exp( A  1)
kT nkT nkT

 4qmn* k 2  m0
A*   3

  120( *
)
 h  mn

qVA
LogI  LogI s  ( )
nkT ln(10)

kT AA * T 2
B  ln( )
q Is
Need to obtain A*
 Schottky Barrier (I-V Temp)
 qB qV
I  AA * T 2 exp( )(exp( A  1)
kT nkT

q( VA / n  B )  qB Plot Chart at constant

I  AA * T 2 (exp(  exp( ))
kT kT Forward voltage
q( VA / n  B )
I  AA * T 2 (exp( )
kT

I q( VA / n  B )
 (exp( )
AA * T 2 kT

I q( VA / n  B )
ln( )  ( )
AA * T 2 kT

I q( VA / n  B )
ln( )  ln( AA *)  ( ) Richardson Plot
T2 kT

VA k d ln(I / T 2 ) The intercept at 1/T=0, is

B  ( )
n q d(1/ T ) ln(AA*)
 Schottky Barrier (I-V Temp)

I q(VA  B )
ln( 2
)  ln( AA *)  ( )
T kT

I q(VA  B )
From the slope dln( 2
) / d(1/ T)  ( )
T k

I I
VA k d(ln( T 2 )) VA 2.3kd(Log( T 2 )
B    
n q d( 1 ) n qd( 1T )
T
 Schottky Barrier (C-V)
C  q0r (NA  ND )
 Metal Semiconductor
A kT
2( Vb  V  )
q qVb
FB qV0

2si (Vb  VA )
W X
qND
dW q siND
C  qND  VA= -VR (VR >0)
dVR 2(Vb  VR )
1/C2
1 2( Vb  VR )
 Slope= q N
2
C2 q siND si D

V
NC
V0  kT ln( ) Intercept Vi= -Vb-kT
ND

With Vb and ND known from the plot, B can be obtained from Vb+V0
 Schottky Diode
Schottky Diode is a good device for power converting application
 Low turn-on voltage compared with PN junctions
 Use wide band gap materials (SiC, GaN) to make schottky diode for
high voltage

FET acts as a switch

with switching
Energy storage and filtering
frequency (fs) e.g.
200kHz

VIN VOUT
C RL

A step down
converter
 Outline

 Metal Semiconductor Contacts

 Contact resistance
 Contact resistance Measurement
 Schottky Barrier (& Diode)
 I-V
 C-V
(Schroder Chapter 3)
 Diode (PN Junction)
 I-V
(Schroder Chapter 4, 4-2)
 PN Junction Diode
DNni2 DPni2 qV
J  (q q )(exp( A )  1)
NALN NDLP kT

qVA
I  I0 (exp(  1)
nkT
qVA
I  I0 (exp( )
nkT
n=2: High injection
Log I
Ideality Factor (n)
n=1
n=1: diffusion current or
n=2: G –R thermionic current

n=2: Generation-Recombination
V
or high injection (of minority Carrier)
 Diode
rs
qV
I  I0 (exp( d  1)
nkT
Vd
V= Vd + Irs

q(V  Irs )
I  I0 (exp(  1)
nkT
q(V  Irs ) q(V  Irs )
 I0,scr (exp(  1)  I0,qnr (exp(  1)
nkT nkT

High rs

qnr: quasi neutral region

V Scr: space charge region
 Diode-Series Resistance

q(V  Irs )
I  I0 (exp(  1)
nkT
For V>> KT

q(V  Irs ) gd/I

I  I0 (exp( )
nkT Slope=  qrs
nkT
dI Iq(1  rsgd )
gd   1/rs
dV nkT
gd
gd q(1  rsgd ) qr q
   s gd 
I nkT nkT nkT

Plot gd/I versus gd

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