A High Depth Resolution Backside Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Technique Used for Studying Metal/Gaas Contacts

Abstract

ABSTRACTUnderstanding metal/semiconductor contacts is important for the fabrication of device structures. To date most studies have been aimed at understanding the metallurgical or the electrical properties. Directly measuring the impurity concentrations immediately beneath a contact rather than inferring it from electrical measurements has up until now been difficult. This paper describes a backside SIMS technique which not only demonstrates the ability of measuring doping concentrations close to a metal/semiconductor contact but also is capable of measuring the consumption of semiconductor material during a metal/semiconductor reaction. The sample preparation technique can be used to enable backside profiling using other profiling techniques such as Auger and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiling, Rutherford backscattering, and backside electrical evaluation. The Ge/Pd/GaAs solid phase ohmic contact is used to demonstrate the technique.