Quantitative Kelvin probe force microscopy

In this paper we report on the investigation of electrostatic forces between a conductive probe and semiconducting materials by means of Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements. Due to the formation of an asymmetric electric dipole at the semiconductor surface, the measured Kelvin bias is related with the difference between Fermi energy and respective band edge. Quantitative Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements on semiconductors, namely on a conventional dynamic random-access memory cell and on a cross-sectionally prepared Si epilayer structure, are presented.