Ellipsometry-based conductivity extraction in case of phosphorus doped polysilicon

In this work, we investigated a new method for thin films electrical conductivity extraction based on spectroscopic ellipsometry. This has been enabled through the correlation between the films conductivity and their ellipsometric properties. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that numerous ellipsometric fitting-based approaches can provide, in an indirect way, the electrical characteristics of thin films. The study was focused on electrical conductivity, but doping level or carriers’ mobility can also be extrapolated from ellipsometric measurements. Among various possibilities leading to electrical properties extraction, we can cite the extremal values of Ψ and Δ ellipsometric angles, their associated wavelengths, the mean square error and the maximal and minimal reflectivities ratio. Otherwise, the correlation between extrinsic conductivity and ellipsometric parameters evolution has been confirmed in case of low doping levels with particular behavior after annealing. This contactless method has been successfully applied to polycrystalline silicon films deposited on oxidized, p-type monocrystalline substrates, by low pressure chemical vapor deposition technique, and lightly or heavily phosphorus doped by diffusion. The feasibility of the method has been proven in this case, but also in other cases like implanted polysilicon layers or silicon-on-insulator (not included here).