Wide-range resistivity characterization of semiconductors with terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

Abstract

Resistivity is one of the most important characteristics in the semiconductor industry. The most common way to measure resistivity is the four-point probe method, which requires physical contact with the material under test. Terahertz time domain spectroscopy, a fast and non-destructive measurement method, is already well established in the characterization of dielectrics. In this work, we demonstrate the potential of two Drude model-based approaches to extract resistivity values from terahertz time-domain spectroscopy measurements of silicon in a wide range from about 10$^{-3}$ $\Omega$cm to 10$^{2}$ $\Omega$cm. One method is an analytical approach and the other is an optimization approach. Four-point probe measurements are used as a reference. In addition, the spatial resistivity distribution is imaged by X-Y scanning of the samples to detect inhomogeneities in the doping distribution.