Method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of semiconductor device

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of a semiconductor device. The method comprises: preparing two sets of testing patterns on a semiconductor device; testing resistance values of the two sets of testing patterns respectively; calculating a sheet resistance of an ohmic contact area according to the obtained resistance values; and evaluating the ohmic contact electrode performance of the semiconductor device according to the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact electrode.

Claims

1. A method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of a semiconductor device, comprising: preparing two sets of testing patterns on a semiconductor device waited to be evaluated; testing resistance values of the two sets of testing patterns respectively; calculating a sheet resistance of an ohmic contact area according to the obtained resistance values; and evaluating the ohmic contact electrode performance of the semiconductor device according to the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area; wherein preparing two sets of testing patterns on a semiconductor device waited to be evaluated comprises: preparing the two sets of testing patterns on a semiconductor material of the semiconductor device for measuring the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area, wherein the two sets of testing patterns comprise: a first set of testing patterns, comprising a central contacted circular ohmic electrode A1, a concentric first annular ohmic electrode A2, and a concentric second annular ohmic electrode A3; and a second set of testing patterns, comprising a central contacted circular ohmic electrode B1, a concentric first annular ohmic electrode B2, and a concentric second annular ohmic electrode B3; wherein the circular ohmic electrode A1 has the same radius as the circular ohmic electrode B1, and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 has the same radius as the second annular ohmic electrode B3; wherein testing resistance values of the two sets of testing patterns respectively comprises: measuring a resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 by a semiconductor parameter analyzer; and measuring a resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 by the semiconductor parameter analyzer; wherein calculating a sheet resistance of an ohmic contact area according to the obtained resistance values comprises: constructing a correction formula for correcting the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area according to the resistance value R.sub.L1 and the resistance value R.sub.L2, wherein the correction formula is represented as: $R_{shc} = R_{sh} - \frac{2 (R_{L 2} - R_{L 1})}{\ln \frac{r_{2}^{} r_{3}^{}}{r_{2} r_{3}}},$ where R.sub.shc refers to the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area to be solved, R.sub.sh refers to an active area resistance; r.sub.2 and r.sub.3 respectively refer to an inner radius and an outer radius of the first annular ohmic electrode A2; r.sub.2 and r.sub.3 respectively refer to an inner radius and an outer radius of the first annular ohmic electrode B2.

2. The method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of a semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the two sets of testing patterns are prepared by depositing metal electrodes or performing ion implantation on the semiconductor material, and then performing a high temperature annealing.

3. The method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein measuring a resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 by a semiconductor parameter analyzer comprises: applying a bias voltage V1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 by the semiconductor parameter analyzer, connecting an ammeter between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3, reading a value I.sub.1 of the ammeter, and calculating the resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 through the Ohm's law.

4. The method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of a semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein measuring a resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 by the semiconductor parameter analyzer comprises: applying a bias voltage V2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 by the semiconductor parameter analyzer, connecting an ammeter between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3, reading a value I.sub.2 of the ammeter, and calculating the resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 through the Ohm's law.

5. The method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein constructing a formula for correcting the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area according to the resistance value R.sub.L1 and the resistance value R.sub.L2 comprises: expressing the resistance value R.sub.L1 as a first expression of R.sub.L1: R.sub.L1=R.sub.A1+R.sub.A12+R.sub.A2+R.sub.A23R.sub.A3; where R.sub.A1 refers to a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the circular ohmic electrode A1, R.sub.A12 refers to a resistance value of an active area between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the first annular ohmic electrode A2, R.sub.A2 refers to a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the first annular ohmic electrode A2, R.sub.A23 refers to a resistance value of an active area between the first annular ohmic electrode A2 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3, and R.sub.A3 refers to a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the second annular ohmic electrode A3; expressing the resistance value R.sub.L2 as a first expression of R.sub.L2: R.sub.L2=R.sub.B1+R.sub.B12+R.sub.B2+R.sub.B23+R.sub.B3; where R.sub.B1 refers to a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the circular ohmic electrode B1, R.sub.B12 refers to a resistance value of an active area between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the first annular ohmic electrode B2, R.sub.B2 refers to a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the first annular ohmic electrode B2, R.sub.B23 refers to a resistance value of an active area between the first annular ohmic electrode B2 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3, and R.sub.B3 refers to a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the second annular ohmic electrode B3; obtaining a second expression of R.sub.L2 from the first expression of R.sub.L2 according to R.sub.A1=R.sub.B1 and R.sub.A3=R.sub.B3, the second expression of R.sub.L2 being represented as R.sub.L2=R.sub.A1+R.sub.B12+R.sub.B2+R.sub.B23+R.sub.A3; calculating the resistance value R.sub.A2 and the resistance value R.sub.B2 respectively: $R_{A 2} =_{r_{2}}^{r_{3}} \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} \ln (\frac{r_{3}}{r_{2}}), R_{B 2} =_{r_{2}^{}}^{r_{3}^{}} \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} \ln (\frac{r_{3}^{}}{r_{2}^{}});$ calculating the resistance value R.sub.A12 and the resistance value R.sub.B12 respectively: $R_{A 12} =_{r_{1}}^{r_{2}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}}), R_{B 12} =_{r_{1}}^{r_{2}^{}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{2}^{}}{r_{1}});$ calculating the resistance value R.sub.A23 and the resistance value R.sub.B23 respectively: $R_{A 23} =_{r_{3}}^{r_{4}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}}), R_{B 23} =_{r_{3}^{}}^{r_{4}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}^{}});$ substituting the expressions of R.sub.A2, R.sub.A12, and R.sub.A23 into the first expression of R.sub.L1, and obtaining a second expression of R.sub.L1 as follows: $R_{L 1} = R_{A 1} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}} + \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{3}}{r_{2}} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}} + R_{A 3};$ substituting the expressions of R.sub.B2, R.sub.B12, and R.sub.B23 into the first expression of R.sub.L2, and obtaining a third expression of R.sub.L2 as follows: $R_{L 2} = R_{A 1} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{2}^{}}{r_{1}^{}} + \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{3}^{}}{r_{2}^{}} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}^{}} + R_{A 3};$ and obtaining the correction formula by subtracting the second expression of RD from the third expression of R.sub.L2; where r.sub.1 refers to a radius of the circular ohmic electrode A1 or a radius of the circular ohmic electrode B1, r.sub.4 refers to an inner radius of the second annular ohmic electrode A3 or an inner radius of the second annular ohmic electrode B3.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(2) FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of a set of testing patterns according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a first set of testing patterns according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(4) FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of a second set of testing patterns according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(5) FIG. 5 is a circuit schematic diagram showing a principle of testing resistance values according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(6) FIG. 6 is a schematic structural view showing a set of testing patterns on a non-heterojunction structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(7) FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing processes of testing and calculating a sheet resistance of an ohmic contact area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(8) In the following description, technical details are set forth in order to provide the reader with a better understanding of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art can understand that the technical solutions claimed in the present application can be implemented without these technical details and various changes and modifications based on the following embodiments.

(9) The specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and embodiments. The following examples are intended to illustrate the invention but are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

(10) Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method of this embodiment includes:

(11) S1: preparing two sets of testing patterns on a semiconductor device;

(12) S2: testing resistance values of the two sets of testing patterns respectively;

(13) S3: calculating a sheet resistance of an ohmic contact area according to the obtained resistance values;

(14) S4: evaluating the ohmic contact electrode performance of the semiconductor device according to the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area.

(15) Specifically, in this method, the step of S1 includes: fabricating two sets of testing patterns on a semiconductor material of the semiconductor device for measuring the ohmic contact area sheet resistance. The two sets of testing patterns include a first set of testing patterns and a second set of testing patterns. The first set of testing patterns includes a central contacted circular ohmic electrode A1, a concentric first annular ohmic electrode A2, and a concentric second annular ohmic electrode A3. The second set of testing patterns includes a central contacted circular ohmic electrode B1, a concentric first annular ohmic electrode B2, and a concentric second annular ohmic electrode B3.

(16) In an embodiment of the present application, the two sets of testing patterns are prepared by depositing metal electrodes on the semiconductor material, or prepared by performing ion implantation and then high temperature annealing. Preferably, the testing patterns are fabricated on a heterojunction structure, but are not limited thereto.

(17) Please refer to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing testing and calculating processes of the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The testing and calculating processes include the following steps.

(18) Step 701: a resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 is calculated.

(19) Thereafter, step 702: a resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 is calculated.

(20) Thereafter, step 703: a correction formula for correcting the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area according to the resistance value R.sub.L1 and the resistance value R.sub.L2 is constructed. The correction formula for correcting the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area is represented as:

(21) $R_{shc} = R_{sh} - \frac{2 (R_{L 2} - R_{L 1})}{\ln \frac{r_{2}^{} r_{3}^{}}{r_{2} r_{3}}},$

(22) where R.sub.shc is an ohmic contact area sheet resistance to be solved, R.sub.sh is an active area resistance, r.sub.1 is a radius of the circular ohmic electrode A1 which is equal to a radius of the circular ohmic electrode B1; r.sub.2 and r.sub.3 respectively refer to an inner radius and an outer radius of the first annular ohmic electrode A2; r.sub.2 and r.sub.3 respectively refer to an inner radius and an outer radius of the first annular ohmic electrode B2.

(23) In an embodiment of the present application, constructing a correction formula for correcting the sheet resistance of the ohmic contact area includes the following steps.

(24) The resistance value R.sub.L1 is expressed as a first expression of R.sub.L1: R.sub.L1=R.sub.A1+R.sub.A12R.sub.A2+R.sub.A23R.sub.A3, where R.sub.A1 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the circular ohmic electrode A1, R.sub.A12 is a resistance value of an active area between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the first annular ohmic electrode A2, R.sub.A2 is a resistance value of an ohmic contact area under the annular ring ohmic electrode A2, R.sub.A23 is a resistance value of an active area between the first annular ohmic electrode A2 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3, and R.sub.A3 is a resistance value of an ohmic contact area under the second annular ohmic electrode A3.

(25) The resistance value R.sub.L2 is expressed as a first expression of R.sub.L2: R.sub.L2=R.sub.B1+R.sub.B12R.sub.B2+R.sub.B23R.sub.B3, where R.sub.B1 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the circular ohmic electrode B1, R.sub.B12 is a resistance value of an active area between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the first annular ohmic electrode B2, R.sub.B2 is a resistance value of an ohmic contact area under the first annular ohmic electrode B2, R.sub.B23 is a resistance value of an active area between the first annular ohmic electrode B2 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3, and R.sub.B3 is a resistance value of an ohmic contact area under the second annular ohmic electrode B3.

(26) According to R.sub.A1=R.sub.B1 and R.sub.A3=R.sub.B3, a second expression of R.sub.L2 is obtained from the first expression of R.sub.L2, and the second expression of R.sub.L2 is represented as R.sub.L2=R.sub.A1+R.sub.B12R.sub.B2+R.sub.B23+R.sub.A3.

(27) The resistance value R.sub.A2 and the resistance value R.sub.B2 are respectively calculated as:

(28) $R_{A 2} =_{r_{2}}^{r_{3}} \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} \ln (\frac{r_{3}}{r_{2}}), R_{B 2} =_{r_{2}^{}}^{r_{3}^{}} \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} \ln (\frac{r_{3}^{}}{r_{2}^{}}) .$

(29) The resistance value R.sub.A12 and the resistance value R.sub.B12 are respectively calculated as:

(30) $R_{A 12} =_{r_{1}}^{r_{2}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}}), R_{B 12} =_{r_{1}}^{r_{2}^{}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{2}^{}}{r_{1}}) .$

(31) The resistance value R.sub.A23 and the resistance value R.sub.B23 are respectively calculated as:

(32) 0 $R_{A 23} =_{r_{3}}^{r_{4}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}}), R_{B 23} =_{r_{3}^{}}^{r_{4}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}^{}}) .$

(33) The expressions of R.sub.A2, R.sub.A12, and R.sub.A23 are brought into the first expression of R.sub.L1, and then a third expression of R.sub.L1 is obtained as follows:

(34) $R_{L 1} = R_{A 1} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}} + \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{3}}{r_{2}} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}} + R_{A 3} .$

(35) The expressions of R.sub.B2, R.sub.B12, and R.sub.B23 are brought into the first expression of R.sub.L2, and then a second expression of R.sub.L2 is obtained as follows:

(36) $R_{L 2} = R_{A 1} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{2}^{}}{r_{1}^{}} + \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{3}^{}}{r_{2}^{}} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}^{}} + R_{A 3} .$

(37) The difference between the third expression of R.sub.L2 and the second expression of R.sub.L1 is calculated and thereby the correction formula is obtained as:

(38) $R_{shc} = R_{sh} - \frac{2 (R_{L 2} - R_{L 1})}{\ln \frac{r_{2}^{} r_{3}^{}}{r_{2} r_{3}}} .$

(39) In one embodiment, calculating the resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 includes the following steps.

(40) A bias voltage V.sub.1 is applied between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 by the semiconductor parameter analyzer, and an ammeter is connected between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3, a value I.sub.1 of the ammeter is read, and a resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 is calculated by the Ohm's law.

(41) In one embodiment, calculating the resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 includes the following steps.

(42) A bias voltage V.sub.2 is applied between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 by the semiconductor parameter analyzer, and an ammeter is connected between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3, a value I.sub.2 of the ammeter is read, and a resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 is calculated by the Ohm's law.

(43) In one embodiment, the circular ohmic electrode A1 has the same radius as the circular ohmic electrode B1, and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 has the same radius as the second annular ohmic electrode B3, that is, the resistance relationship of each part of the two sets of ohmic contact testing patterns is: R.sub.A1=R.sub.B1, R.sub.A3=R.sub.B3.

(44) In one embodiment of the present application, a method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of a semiconductor device includes the following steps.

(45) Step 101: ohmic contact area sheet resistance testing patterns are fabricated on the heterojunction structure.

(46) 1a) A substrate layer, an intrinsic buffer layer, and a barrier layer are sequentially grown from bottom to top on a substrate using a heterojunction epitaxial growth method, wherein the substrate commonly used is sapphire, Si, SiC, diamond material, and the buffer layer commonly used is GaN, GaAs III-V materials, the barrier layer commonly used is AlGaN, InGaN, AlInGaN materials. Alternatively, a semiconductor thin film material such as GaO.sub.2 may be directly grown on the substrate material to form the ohmic contact region sheet resistance testing patterns.

(47) 1b) A metal electrode is deposited on the barrier layer or an ion implantation is performed on the barrier layer, and then two sets of circular ohmic contact testing patterns are formed on the hetero-epitaxial structure which formed by the barrier layer and the buffer layer via a high temperature annealing process, wherein a first set of concentric circular testing patterns is shown in FIG. 3, and a second set of concentric circular testing patterns is shown in FIG. 4, the schematic structure of the testing patterns is shown in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 3, the first set of testing patterns includes three different ohmic electrodes: one circular ohmic electrode A1 and two concentric annular ohmic electrodes, namely a first annular ohmic electrode A2 and a second annular ohmic electrode A3 respectively. The length of each ohmic electrode is reasonably set by a tester according to the usual length range and test requirements in the metal electrode deposition process. The following is just an example provided, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, a radius of the circular ohmic electrode A1 in the first set of testing patterns is r.sub.1=90 an inner diameter of the first annular ohmic electrode A2 is r.sub.2=100 an outer diameter of the first annular ohmic electrode A2 is r.sub.3=130 m; an inner diameter of the second annular ohmic electrode A3 is r.sub.4=140 m, and an outer diameter the second annular ohmic electrode A3 is r.sub.5=160 m.

(48) Referring to FIG. 4, the second set of circular testing patterns includes three different ohmic electrodes: one circular ohmic electrode B1 and two concentric annular ohmic electrodes, namely a first annular ohmic electrode B2 and a second annular ohmic electrode B3. The length of each ohmic electrode is reasonably set by a tester according to the usual length range and test requirements in the metal electrode deposition process. The example is provided, but not limited to that a radius of the circular ohmic electrode B1 in the second set of circular testing patterns is r.sub.1=90 an inner diameter of the first annular ohmic electrode B2 is r.sub.2=95 an outer diameter of the first annular ohmic electrode B2 is r.sub.3=135 an inner diameter of the second annular ohmic electrode B3 is r.sub.4=140 and an outer diameter of the second annular ohmic electrode B3 is r.sub.5=160 m.

(49) It should be noted that the testing patterns can be fabricated on any semiconductor device having ohmic contact area and active area, for example, a HEMT device based on an III-V semiconductor material such as GaN or GaAs, or the semiconductor devices such as CMOS and field effect transistors, for evaluating the performance of the semiconductor devices.

(50) Step 102: a total resistance of the first set and the second set of testing patterns are measured respectively.

(51) Referring to the resistance testing schematic diagram shown in FIG. 5, testing steps of the total resistance between the circular ohmic electrode and the second annular ohmic electrode of each set of testing patterns are as follows.

(52) 2a) A bias voltage V.sub.1 is applied between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 of the first set of circular testing patterns, and an ammeter is connected in series in the loop, a value I.sub.1 of the ammeter is read, and a resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 is calculated by the Ohm's law:
R.sub.L1=V.sub.1/I.sub.1.

(53) 2b) A bias voltage V.sub.2 is applied between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 of the second set of circular testing patterns, and an ammeter is connected in series in the loop, a value I.sub.2 of the ammeter is read, and a resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 is calculated by the Ohm's law:
R.sub.L2=V.sub.2/I.sub.2.

(54) Step 103: a correction formula of the ohmic contact area sheet resistance R.sub.shc in the testing patterns is constructed.

(55) 3a) Taking the testing patterns in the present disclosure as an example, according to FIG. 3, the resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 in the first set of circular testing patterns is expressed as:
R.sub.L1=R.sub.A1+R.sub.A12+R.sub.A2+R.sub.A23+R.sub.A3,

(56) where R.sub.A1 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area of the circular ohmic electrode A1 in the first set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.A12 is a resistance value of the active area between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the first annular ohmic electrode A2 in the first set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.A2 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area of the first annular ohmic electrode A2 in the first set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.A23 is a resistance value of the active area between the first annular ohmic electrode A2 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 in the first set of circular testing patterns, and R.sub.A3 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the second annular ohmic electrode A3 in the first set of circular testing patterns.

(57) 3b) Taking the testing patterns in the present disclosure as an example, according to FIG. 4, the resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 in the second set of circular testing patterns is expressed as:
R.sub.L2=R.sub.B1+R.sub.B12+R.sub.B2+R.sub.B23+R.sub.B3,

(58) where R.sub.B1 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area of the circular ohmic electrode B1 in the second set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.B12 is a resistance value of the active area between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the first annular ohmic electrode B2 in the second set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.B2 is a resistance of the ohmic contact area of the first annular ohmic electrode B2 in the second set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.B23 is a resistance value of the active area between the first annular ohmic electrode B2 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 in the second set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.B3 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area of the second annular ohmic electrode B3 in the second set of circular testing patterns.

(59) 3c) According to the relationships that the circular ohmic electrode A1 of the first set of testing patterns and the circular ohmic electrode B1 of the second set of testing patterns have the same radius, and the second annular ohmic electrodes A3 and B3 have the same radius, the resistance relationship of each part in the two sets of ohmic contact testing patterns are obtained: R.sub.A1=R.sub.B1, R.sub.A3=R.sub.B3, and then the expression of the resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 of the second set of ohmic contact testing patterns in step 3b) is transformed into:
R.sub.L2=R.sub.A1+R.sub.B12+R.sub.B2+R.sub.B23+R.sub.A3

(60) 3d) The resistance value R.sub.A2 of the contact area under the first annular ohmic electrode A2 in the first set of ohmic contact testing patterns and the resistance value R.sub.B2 of contact area under the first annular ohmic electrode B2 in the second set of ohmic contact testing patterns are respectively calculated as follows:

(61) $R_{A 2} =_{r_{2}}^{r_{3}} \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} \ln (\frac{r_{3}}{r_{2}}), R_{B 2} =_{r_{2}^{}}^{r_{3}^{}} \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{3}^{}}{r_{2}^{}}) .$

(62) 3e) The resistance value R.sub.A12 of the active area between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the first annular ohmic electrode A2 in the first set of testing patterns, and the resistance value R.sub.B12 of the active area between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the first annular ohmic electrodes B2 in the second set of testing patterns are respectively calculated as follows:

(63) $R_{A 12} =_{r_{1}}^{r_{2}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}}), R_{B 12} =_{r_{1}}^{r_{2}^{}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{2}^{}}{r_{1}}) .$

(64) 3f) The active area resistance R.sub.A23 between the first circular ohmic electrode A2 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 in the first set of testing patterns, and the active area resistance R.sub.B23 between the first annular ohmic electrode B2 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 in the second set of testing patterns are respectively calculated as follows:

(65) $R_{A 23} =_{r_{3}}^{r_{4}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}}), R_{B 23} =_{r_{3}^{}}^{r_{4}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}^{}}) .$

(66) 3g) The R.sub.A2 formula in the step 3d), the R.sub.A12 formula in the step 3e), and the R.sub.A23 formula in the step 3f) are brought into the R.sub.L1 formula in the step 3a), and the following formula is obtained:

(67) $R_{L 1} = R_{A 1} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}} + \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{3}}{r_{2}} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}} + R_{A 3} .$

(68) 3h) The R.sub.B2 formula in the step 3d), the R.sub.B12 formula in the step 3e), and the R.sub.B23 formula in the step 3f) are brought into the R.sub.L2 formula in the step 3c), and the following formula is obtained:

(69) $R_{L 2} = R_{A 1} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{2}^{}}{r_{1}^{}} + \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{3}^{}}{r_{2}^{}} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}^{}} + R_{A 3} .$

(70) 3i) The difference between the R.sub.L2 formula in step 3h) and the R.sub.L1 formula in step 3g) is calculated, and the correction formula for calculating the sheet resistance R.sub.shc of the ohmic contact area is obtained:

(71) $R_{shc} = R_{sh} - \frac{2 (R_{L 2} - R_{L 1})}{\ln \frac{r_{2}^{} r_{3}^{}}{r_{2} r_{3}}},$

(72) wherein, R.sub.shc on the left side of the equal sign is the ohmic contact area sheet resistance to be solved, and the first term R.sub.sh on the right side of the equal sign is the active area resistance.

(73) The value of R.sub.sh can be extracted by the conventional rectangular transmission line model TLM method, but is not limited to this method. The second term on the right side of the equal sign is defined as a correction term , i.e.:

(74) 0 $= \frac{2 (R_{L 2} - R_{L 1})}{\ln \frac{r_{2}^{} r_{3}^{}}{r_{2} r_{3}}},$

(75) where r.sub.1<r.sub.2<r.sub.3<r.sub.4<r.sub.5.

(76) The sheet resistance R.sub.shc of the ohmic contact area can be accurately calculated by the above correction formula.

(77) In the present embodiment, the step 103 can be performed by a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program that, when executed by the processor, implements the above step 103.

(78) Step 104: the performance of ohmic contact electrode in the semiconductor device is evaluated according to the ohmic contact area sheet resistance R.sub.shc.

(79) As mentioned above, the ohmic contact area resistance is an important indicator to judge the quality of the ohmic contact in semiconductor device, and the accurate test of the ohmic contact area resistance is the key to calculate the ohmic contact resistance. In general, if the ohmic contact area sheet resistance R.sub.shc is in the range of 0.5-1 .Math.mm, the ohmic contact electrodes in semiconductor device can be considered to perform well. Therefore, the performance of ohmic contact electrodes in the semiconductor device can be evaluated by the ohmic contact area sheet resistance, and then the process optimization, performance evaluation, and reliability analysis can be performed on the fabricated semiconductor device.

(80) In another embodiment of the present application, a method for testing and correcting a sheet resistance of an ohmic contact area includes the following steps.

(81) Step 1: ohmic contact area sheet resistance testing patterns are fabricated on a semiconductor having a non-heterojunction structure.

(82) 1a) A substrate layer and a semiconductor material layer are sequentially grown on a substrate using an epitaxial growth technique, wherein a commonly used substrate is sapphire, silicon, silicon carbide, diamond material, and a common semiconductor material layer may be a compound consisting III-V material such as GaN, GaAs or AlGaN, or a Si, GaO.sub.2 material or the like. FIG. 6 shows a schematic structure of testing patterns for testing a sheet resistance of an ohmic contact area on a non-heterojunction structure.

(83) 1b) Two sets of circular ohmic contact testing patterns are formed on the semiconductor material layer by DC magnetron sputtering, optical lithography and stripping or ion implantation, and then high temperature annealing, wherein a first set of circular testing patterns is also as shown in FIG. 3, and a second set of circular testing patterns is also as shown in FIG. 4.

(84) Referring to FIG. 3, the first set of circular testing patterns includes three different ohmic electrodes: one circular ohmic electrode A1 and two concentric annular ohmic electrodes, namely a first annular ohmic electrode A2 and a second annular ohmic electrode A3 respectively. The length of each ohmic electrode is reasonably set by a tester according to the usual length range and test requirements in the metal electrode deposition process. The example is provided, but not limited to that a radius of the circular ohmic electrode A1 in the first set of circular testing patterns is r.sub.1=90 m, an inner diameter of the first annular ohmic electrode A2 is r.sub.2=100 m, an outer diameter of the first annular ohmic electrode A2 is r.sub.3=130 m; an inner diameter of the second annular ohmic electrode A3 is r.sub.4=140 and an outer diameter the second annular ohmic electrode A3 is r.sub.5=160 m.

(85) Referring to FIG. 4, the second set of circular testing patterns includes three different ohmic electrodes: one circular ohmic electrode B1 and two concentric annular ohmic electrodes, namely a first annular ohmic electrode B2 and a second annular ohmic electrode B3 respectively. The length of each ohmic electrode is reasonably set by a tester according to the usual length range and test requirements in the metal electrode deposition process. The example is provided, but not limited to that a radius of the circular ohmic electrode B1 in the second set of circular testing patterns is r.sub.1=90 an inner diameter of the first annular ohmic electrode B2 is r.sub.2=95 an outer diameter of the first annular ohmic electrode B2 is r.sub.3=135 an inner diameter of the second annular ohmic electrode B3 is r.sub.4=140 m, and an outer diameter of the second annular ohmic electrode B3 is r.sub.5=160 m.

(86) Step 2: a total resistance of the first set and the second set of circular testing patterns are measured respectively.

(87) Referring to the resistance testing schematic diagram of FIG. 5, testing steps of the total resistance between the circular ohmic electrode and the second annular ohmic electrode of each set of testing patterns are as follows.

(88) 2a) A bias voltage V.sub.1 is applied between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 of the first set of circular testing patterns, and a current meter is series connected in the loop. Then a value of the ammeter I.sub.1 is read, and a total resistance value R.sub.L1 between the test circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second circular ohmic electrode A3 is calculated using the Ohm's law:
R.sub.L1=V.sub.1/I.sub.1.

(89) 2b) A bias voltage V.sub.2 is applied between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 of the second set of circular testing patterns, and a current meter is series connected in the loop. Then a value of the ammeter I.sub.2 is read, and a total resistance value R.sub.L2 between the test circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second circular ohmic electrode B3 is Calculated using the Ohm's law:
R.sub.L2V.sub.2/I.sub.2.

(90) Step 3: a correction formula of the ohmic contact area sheet resistance R.sub.shc in the testing patterns is constructed.

(91) 3a) Taking the testing patterns in the present disclosure as an example, according to FIG. 3, the resistance value R.sub.L1 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 in the first set of circular testing patterns is expressed as:
R.sub.L1R.sub.A1+R.sub.A12+R.sub.A2+R.sub.A23+R.sub.A3;

(92) wherein, R.sub.A1 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area of the circular ohmic electrode A1 in the first set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.A12 is a resistance value of the active area between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the first annular ohmic electrode A2 in the first set of circular testing patterns; resistance value of the ohmic contact area of the first annular ohmic electrode A2 in the first set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.A23 is a resistance value of the active area between the first annular ohmic electrode A2 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 in the first set of circular testing patterns, and R.sub.A3 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area under the second annular ohmic electrode A3 in the first set of circular testing patterns.

(93) 3b) Taking the testing patterns in the present disclosure as an example, according to FIG. 4, the resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 in the second set of circular testing patterns is expressed as:
R.sub.L2=R.sub.B1+R.sub.B12+R.sub.B2+R.sub.B23+R.sub.B3

(94) wherein, R.sub.B1 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area of the circular ohmic electrode B1 in the second set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.B12 is a resistance value of the active area between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the first annular ohmic electrode B2 in the second set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.B2 is a resistance of the ohmic contact area of the first annular ohmic electrode B2 in the second set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.B23 is a resistance value of the active area between the first annular ohmic electrode B2 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 in the second set of circular testing patterns; R.sub.B3 is a resistance value of the ohmic contact area of the second annular ohmic electrode B3 in the second set of circular testing patterns.

(95) 3c) According to the relationships that the circular ohmic electrode A1 of the first set of testing patterns and the circular ohmic electrode B1 of the second set of testing patterns have the same radius, and the second annular ohmic electrodes A3 and B3 have the same radius, the resistance relationship of each part in the two sets of ohmic contact testing patterns are obtained: R.sub.A1=R.sub.B1, R.sub.A3=R.sub.B3, and then the expression of the resistance value R.sub.L2 between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 of the second set of ohmic contact testing patterns in step 3b) is transformed into:
R.sub.L2=R.sub.A1+R.sub.B12+R.sub.B2+R.sub.B23+R.sub.A3

(96) 3d) The resistance value R.sub.A2 of the contact area under the first annular ring ohmic electrode A2 in the first set of ohmic contact testing patterns and the resistance value R.sub.B2 of contact area under the first annular ohmic electrode B2 in the second set of ohmic contact testing patterns are respectively calculated as follows:

(97) $R_{A 2} =_{r_{2}}^{r_{3}} \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{3}}{r_{2}}), R_{B 2} =_{r_{2}^{}}^{r_{3}^{}} \frac{R_{shc}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{3}^{}}{r_{2}^{}}) .$

(98) 3e) The active area resistance value R.sub.A12 between the circular ohmic electrode A1 and the first annular ohmic electrode A2 in the first set of testing patterns, and the resistance value R.sub.B12 of the active area between the circular ohmic electrode B1 and the first annular ohmic electrodes B2 in the second set of testing patterns are respectively calculated as follows:

(99) $R_{A 12} =_{r_{1}}^{r_{2}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}}), R_{B 12} =_{r_{1}}^{r_{2}^{}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{2}^{}}{r_{1}}) .$

(100) 3f) The active area resistance R.sub.A23 between the first circular ohmic electrode A2 and the second annular ohmic electrode A3 in the first set of testing patterns, and the active area resistance R.sub.B23 between the first annular ohmic electrode B2 and the second annular ohmic electrode B3 in the second set of testing patterns are respectively calculated as follows:

(101) $R_{A 23} =_{r_{3}}^{r_{4}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}}), R_{B 23} =_{r_{3}^{}}^{r_{4}} \frac{R_{sh}}{2 x} dx = \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln (\frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}^{}}) .$

(102) 3g) The R.sub.A2 formula in the step 3d), the R.sub.A12 formula in the step 3e), and the R.sub.A23 formula in the step 3f) are brought into the R.sub.L1 formula in the step 3a), and the following formula is obtained:

(103) $R_{L 1} = R_{A 1} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}} + \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{3}}{r_{2}} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}} + R_{A 3} .$

(104) 3h) The R.sub.B2 formula in the step 3d), the R.sub.B12 formula in the step 3e), and the R.sub.B23 formula in the step 3f) are brought into the R.sub.L2 formula in the step 3c), and the following formula is obtained:

(105) $R_{L 2} = R_{A 1} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{2}^{}}{r_{1}^{}} + \frac{R_{shc}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{3}^{}}{r_{2}^{}} + \frac{R_{sh}}{2} \ln \frac{r_{4}}{r_{3}^{}} + R_{A 3} .$

(106) 3i) The difference between the R.sub.L2 formula in step 3h) and the R.sub.L1 formula in step 3g) is calculated, and a formula for calculating the sheet resistance R.sub.shc of the ohmic contact area is obtained:

(107) $R_{shc} = R_{sh} - \frac{2 (R_{L 2} - R_{L 1})}{\ln \frac{r_{2}^{} r_{3}^{}}{r_{2} r_{3}}},$

(108) wherein, R.sub.shc on the left side of the equal sign is the ohmic contact area sheet resistance to be solved, and the first term R.sub.sh on the right side of the equal sign is the active area resistance. The value of R.sub.sh can be extracted by the conventional rectangular transmission line model TLM method, but is not limited to this method.

(109) The second term on the right side of the equal sign is defined as a correction term , i.e.:

(110) $= \frac{2 (R_{L 2} - R_{L 1})}{\ln \frac{r_{2}^{} r_{3}^{}}{r_{2} r_{3}}},$

(111) wherein r.sub.1<r.sub.2<r.sub.3<r.sub.4<r.sub.5.

(112) Step 4: the performance of ohmic contact electrode in the semiconductor device is evaluated according to the ohmic contact area sheet resistance R.sub.shc.

(113) The performance of ohmic contact electrode in the semiconductor device can be evaluated by the ohmic contact electrode sheet resistance, and then the process optimization, performance evaluation, and reliability analysis can be performed on the fabricated semiconductor device.

(114) The above method can be used to quickly and accurately calculate the ohmic contact area sheet resistance R.sub.shc, thereby more accurately evaluating the performance of the ohmic contact electrode. The method solves the problem that the ohmic contact resistance test is difficult and the test result precision is not high from the viewpoints of the device process and the simplified mathematical operation, and the applicable object can be various devices including the ohmic contact area.

(115) The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that after understanding the content and principles of the present disclosure, modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements may be made within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, the testing patterns used in the present disclosure are based on a HEMT device fabricated from III-V semiconductor materials such as GaN or GaAs, and are also applicable to a semiconductor materials or devices such as field effect transistors and film material. These modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.

Method for characterizing ohmic contact electrode performance of semiconductor device

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Abstract

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