Comparison of sheet-resistance measurements obtained by standard and small-area four-point probing

A modification of the standard four-point probing technique has been developed for measurement of the sheet resistance of conducting films. Although the areas of unpatterned film that are required by the new modified technique are significantly less than those normally required with standard four-point probing, the values of sheet resistance provided by the two methods are found to match. The long term goal of this work is to improve the effectiveness of electrical critical-dimension (ECD) metrology in a special application, preferably without committing large surface areas of conducting film exclusively for the purpose of sheet-resistance measurement.