Highly conductive diamond probes for scanning spreading resistance microscopy

Scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM) is a powerful method for th e characterization of Si semiconductor devices based on atomic force micros copy (AFM). It requires conductive probe tips made of doped diamond. Althou gh various solid diamond probes have been fabricated, they could not satisf y the requirements for SSRM. Therefore, we have developed a SSRM probe comp osed of a pyramidal diamond tip attached to a Si cantilever. This letter de scribes the probe fabrication process briefly and presents excellent SSRM m easurements obtained on Si calibration samples. Solid diamond tips integrat ed in Si cantilevers were used for SSRM showing a significantly higher dyna mic range than the conductive probes known to date. (C) 2000 American Insti tute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)00711-7].