Capacitance probe for thin dielectric film characterization

A method of making a capacitance and a voltage measurement on a semiconducting wafer prior to deposition of a contact pad comprising:

• providing a resonant sensor, the resonant sensor comprising a conducting probe and resistor, inductor, and capacitor components electrically connected to said probe;
• providing a semiconductor wafer;
• contacting the semiconductor wafer with the probe;
• applying a DC bias signal to the wafer;
• and
• measuring the capacitance and the voltage prior to deposition of a contact pad onto the semiconducting wafer, wherein at least a portion of the capacitance is attributable to a capacitance between conducting probe and the semiconductor wafer.

A method of analyzing reflectance for the characterization of a thin dielectric film on a semiconductor substrate comprising the steps of:

• connecting a capacitance probe to a measurement system by a transmission line, wherein the capacitance probe comprises a center conductive tip and resistor, inductor, and capacitor components between a center conductive tip and a ground of the transmission line;
• contacting a sample with the center conductive tip of the capacitance probe to form a metal-insulator-semiconductor structure;
• forming a resonant circuit, wherein the resonant circuit comprises the resistor, inductor, and capacitor components and a capacitance of the metal-insulator-semiconductor structure;
• sending a driving signal to the probe;
• measuring a reflected signal from the probe through the transmission line;
• determining resonant characteristics of the resonant circuit from the reflected signal;
• determining the capacitance of the metal-insulator-semiconductor structure from the resonant characteristics;
• and
• extracting a film thickness and dielectric properties of the thin dielectric film based on the capacitance of the metal-insulator-semiconductor structure.