Nanometer-scale material contrast imaging with a near-field microwave microscope

The authors report topography-free material contrast imaging on a nanofabricated boron-doped silicon sample measured with a near-field scanning microwave microscope over a broad frequency range. The boron doping was performed using the focus ion beam technique on a silicon wafer with nominal resistivity of 61 Omega cm. A topography-free doped region varies in sheet resistance from 1000 Omega/square to about 400 k Omega/square within a lateral distance of 4 mu m. The qualitative spatial resolution in sheet resistance imaging contrast is no worse than 100 nm as estimated from the frequency shift signal. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.