Advances in optical carrier profiling through high-frequency modulated optical reflectance

As indicated by the ITRS roadmap, obtaining accurate information on the electrically active dopant profile for sub-30-nm structures is a key issue. Presently, however, there is no conventional, probe-based (destructive) technique available satisfying the ITRS targeted depth (3%) and carrier level (5%−10%) reproducibility and accuracy. In this work, the authors explore the promising capabilities of nondestructive photomodulated optical reflectance (PMOR) techniques, based on the localized (micrometer beam size) detection of variations in the reflectivity of the sample, due to thermal and plasma (excess carrier) effects as can be generated by a modulated pump laser such as the Therma-Probe® (TP) system. Earlier and more recent work using low modulation (1 kHz) frequencies has shown that it is possible, but rather tedious, to extract the electric junction depth (at about 1018 cm−3) and carrier concentration of chemical vapor deposition grown (CVD) (boxlike) structures based on so-called power curves (where t...