Metal–insulator–semiconductor tunneling microscope: two-dimensional dopant profiling of semiconductors with conducting atomic-force microscopy

A method for two-dimensional carrier profiling is presented, based on tunneling from a conducting atomic-force microscope (AFM) probe tip to a semiconductor sample. Current–voltage data are taken during the AFM scan on a cross-sectioned sample consisting of epitaxial InP multilayers. The results show a clear dependence of the current–voltage characteristics on the carrier concentration and different behavior for n-and p-type InP. Modeling of the data enables one to use this method as a quantitative tool for high-resolution two-dimensional dopant profiling.