Understanding current instabilities in conductive atomic force microscopy

Conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) is one of the most powerful techniques in studying the electrical properties of various materials at the nanoscale. However, understanding current fluctuations within one study (due to degradation of the probe tips) and from one study to another (due to the use of probe tips with different characteristics), are still two major problems that may drive CAFM researchers to extract wrong conclusions. In this manuscript, these two issues are statistically analyzed by collecting experimental CAFM data and processing them using two different computational models. Our study indicates that: (i) before their complete degradation, CAFM tips show a stable state with degraded conductance, which is difficult to detect and it requires CAFM tip conductivity characterization before and after the CAFM experiments; and (ii) CAFM tips with low spring constants may unavoidably lead to the presence of a ~1.2 nm thick water film at the tip/sample junction, even if the maximum contact force allowed by the setup is applied. These two phenomena can easily drive CAFM users to overestimate the properties of the samples under test (e.g., oxide thickness). Our study can help researchers to better understand the current shifts that were observed during their CAFM experiments, as well as which probe tip to use and how it degrades. Ultimately, this work may contribute to enhancing the reliability of CAFM investigations

Numerical study of hydrodynamic forces for AFM operations in liquid

For advanced atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigation of chemical surface modifications or very soft organic sample surfaces, the AFM probe tip needs to be operated in a liquid environment because any attractive or repulsive forces influenced by the measurement environment could obscure molecular forces. Due to fluid properties, the mechanical behavior of the AFM cantilever is influenced by the hydrodynamic drag force due to viscous friction with the liquid. This study provides a numerical model based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and investigates the hydrodynamic drag forces for different cantilever geometries and varying fluid conditions for Peakforce Tapping (PFT) in liquids. The developed model was verified by comparing the predicted values with published results of other researchers and the findings confirmed that drag force dependence on tip speed is essentially linear in nature. We observed that triangular cantilever geometry provides significant lower drag forces than rectangular geometry and that short cantilever offers reduced flow resistance. The influence of different liquids such as ultrapure water or an ethanol-water mixture as well as a temperature induced variation of the drag force could be demonstrated. The acting forces are lowest in ultrapure water, whereas with increasing ethanol concentrations the drag forces increase

Improved atomic force microscopy based techniques for electrical and structural characterisation of thin dielectric films

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Thickness determination of thin and ultra-thin SiO 2 films by C-AFM IV-spectroscopy

Conductive atomic force microscopy was used to determine the electrical oxide thickness for five different silicon dioxide layers with thickness in the order of 1.6-5.04 nm. The electrical thickness results were compared with values determined by ellipsometry. A semi-analytical tunnelling current model with one single parameter set was used to superpose current/voltage curves in both the direct tunnelling and the Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling regime regions. The overall electrical oxide thickness was determined by statistical means from results of nearly 3000 IV-curves recorded for different conductive CoCr-coated tips. Good agreement between the shape of model and experimental data was achieved, widely independent of the oxide thickness. Compared with the ellipsometry value, the electrical thickness was larger by a value of 0.36 nm (22%) for the thinnest oxide and smaller by a value of 0.31 nm (6%) for the thickest oxide, while intermediate values yielded differences better than 0.15 nm

Simplified tunnelling current calculation for MOS structures with ultra-thin oxides for conductive atomic force microscopy investigations

As charge tunnelling through thin and ultra-thin silicon dioxide layers is regarded as the driving force for MOS device degradation the determination and characterisation of electrically week spots is of paramount importance for device reliability and failure analysis. Conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) is able to address this issue with a spatial resolution smaller than the expected breakdown spot. For the determination of the electrically active oxide thickness in practice an easy to use model with sufficient accuracy and which is largely independent of the oxide thickness is required. In this work a simplified method is presented that meets these demands. The electrically active oxide thickness is determined by matching of C-AFM voltage-current curves and a tunnelling current model, which is based on an analytical tunnelling current approximation. The model holds for both the Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling and the direct tunnelling regime with one single tunnelling parameter set. The results show good agreement with macroscopic measurements for gate voltages larger than approximately 0.5-1 V, and with microscopic C-AFM measurements. For this reason arbitrary oxides in the DT and the FNT regime may be analysed with high lateral resolution by C-AFM, without the need of a preselection of the tunnelling regime to be addressed. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved