SBIR Phase I: Differential resistance method to profile 3D semiconductor structures

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to reduce cost and accelerate development of high-performance electronic devices. The electronics industry is a major growth engine with enormous impact that includes health (e.g., medical devices), education (e.g. computers, internet), and cleaner energy and environment (e.g., LEDs, photovoltaics). Innovation in semiconductor device design and fabrication continue to foster faster processing speeds and larger storage capacities. However, continuing on this path requires improved metrology techniques and tools providing in-depth information about materials employed in device structures, so that the ever increasing development cost of advanced devices can be controlled. The proposed work will demonstrate a new electrical characterization method with the potential to reduce this cost and accelerate development of semiconductors for important applications such as artificial intelligence, computing, communications, transportation and energy. The proposed project targets development of a novel electrical characterization technique and tool to make measurements on three-dimensional (3D) semiconductor structures. Many advanced electronic devices employ semiconductor layers in the shape of 3D structures, such as fins, and there is an urgent need to develop metrology approaches to fully characterize such structures. The proposed innovation will generate resistivity depth profiles through 3D structures in a conformal manner. The goal is to achieve a depth resolution of at least 1 nm and develop a good understanding of dopant activation in such structures. A piece of hardware will be developed to apply the technique to samples comprising a sea of 3D features to demonstrate the concept and feasibility of the proposed processes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.