Enhanced electrical performance for conductive atomic force microscopy

A new configuration of a conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) is presented, which provides enhanced electrical specs and performance while keeping the nanometer spatial resolution. This is achieved by integrating in the same measurement system a CAFM and a semiconductor parameter analyzer (SPA). The CAFM controls the tip position and scanning parameters, and the SPA is used for sample biasing and measurement. To test this set up, thin $SiO2$ gate oxides of MOS devices have been characterized. For current measurements, the resulting dynamic range was from 1 pA up to 1 mA. The good performance of the conductive tip at such high currents is demonstrated.