Contactless technique for semicondutor wafer testing

Abstract

A contactless technique for semiconductor wafer testing comprising: depositing charges on the top surface of an insulator layer over the wafer to create an inverted surface with a depletion region and thereby a field-induced junction therebelow in the wafer, with an accumulated guard ring on the semiconductor surface therearound. The technique further includes the step of changing the depth to which the depletion region extends below the inverted semiconductor wafer surface to create a surface potential transient, and the step of measuring a parameter of the resultant surface potential transient. This technique may be utilized to make time retention and epi doping concentration measurements. It is especially advantageous for reducing the effects of surface leakage on these measurements. In a preferred embodiment, corona discharges are used to effect the charge deposition configuration. Either corona discharge or photon injection are used to change the depletion region depth.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.