Enhanced electrical performance for conductive atomic force microscopy

A new configuration of a conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) is presented, which provides enhanced electrical specs and performance while keeping the nanometer spatial resolution. This is achieved by integrating in the same measurement system a CAFM and a semiconductor parameter analyzer (SPA). The CAFM controls the tip position and scanning parameters, and the SPA is used for sample biasing and measurement. To test this set up, thin SiO2 gate oxides of MOS devices have been characterized. For current measurements, the resulting dynamic range was from 1 pA up to 1 mA. The good performance of the conductive tip at such high currents is demonstrated. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.