Method for the in situ identification of the sheet resistivity or, respectively, of process parameters of thin, electrically conductive layers manufactured under the influence of a plasma

A method for the in-situ identification of the sheet resistivity of thin, electrically conductive layers manufactured under the influence of a plasma, comprising the steps of:

• providing a circuit having at least one source for generating a current, a first current branch, the sheet resistivity of the layer, and a second current branch in series with the sheet resistivity between the first and second current branch, each current branch having the same total resistance;
• generating a current through said circuit from said source;
• from a parasitic current injected into the layer by the plasma, forming a first current part I.sub.p1 and a second current part I.sub.p2 that are symmetrically supplied into the two current branches;
• measuring a first resultant current I.sub.A and a second resultant current I.sub.B in the first and second current branch respectively;
• calculating a measuring current I.sub.m independent of the plasma influence by averaging the first and second resultant currents I.sub.A and I.sub.B ;
• calculating the sheet resistivity from the measuring current I.sub.m and from a measurement of a voltage drop U.sub.S across the layer.