Improving the electrical performance of a conductive atomic force microscope with a logarithmic current-to-voltage converter.
A new configuration of conductive atomic force microscope (CAFM) is presented, which is based in a standard CAFM where the typical I-V converter has been replaced by a log I-V amplifier. This substitution extends the current dynamic range from 1-100 pA to 1 pA-1 mA. With the broadening of the current dynamic range, the CAFM can access new applications, such as the reliability evaluation of metal-oxide-semiconductor gate dielectrics. As an example, the setup has been tested by analyzing breakdown spots induced in SiO2 layers.
Aguilera
L
L
Dept. Enginyeria Electronica, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain. lidia.aguilera@uab.cat
Lanza
M
M
Porti
M
M
Grifoll
J
J
Nafría
M
M
Aymerich
X
X