The resolutions of drive-level capacitance profiling technique

Recently, the drive level capacitance profiling (DLCP) technique has been proven to be effective in resolving the spatial and energetic distributions of defects through feasible measurements. However, the discussion on its ranges and resolutions is still missing, which is urgent in evaluating the validity of the calculated defect profiles. In this work, we propose a method to analyze the ranges and resolutions of DLCP. Assuming that the test instrument has more influence on the experimental results than the experimental environment, this method can be used to evaluate the resolution of DLCP for different test instruments. Through revisiting the equations involved in DLCP, we learned that the sources of the limits and resolutions are (1) the instrument system error and inherent resolution and (2) the device impedance. Consequently, from the study of device impedance and the measuring instrument system error, the resolutions of DLCP could be calculated according to the error propagation theory. We provide the spatial distribution of the minimum selection range of AC signal δV used by DLCP and the spatial resolution of DLCP technology. This method can be used to evaluate the resolution of DLCP for different test instruments.