Scanning probe microscopy based electrical characterization of thin dielectric and organic semiconductor films
Abstract Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques offer various characterization methods for thin organic films. However, the majority of the electrical SPM measurements is currently performed in contact mode operation and may lead to severe damage at the surface of soft organic materials. This work shows the electrical characterization of organic insulator and semiconductor films by use of two SPM techniques operating with reduced lateral forces between SPM tip and sample. The first one is intermittent-contact scanning-capacitance-microscopy (IC-SCM) which is used for the detection of the local surface capacitance. The second one is torsional resonance tunneling-atomic-force-microscopy (TR-TUNA) which shows the local conductivity respectively relative film thickness of the sample. It is found that the tunneling current distribution across 50 nm thick organic insulating films is very homogeneous and that inhomogeneities in P3HT and Pentacene films can be pinpointed even if no topographical variations are observable.