A Novel Fast-Turn-Around Ladder TLM Methodology with Parasitic Metal Resistance Elimination, an 2x10(-10)Omega-cm(2) Resolution: Theoretical Design and Experimental Demonstration

A novel ladder transmission line method (LTLM) that features eliminated parasitic resistance from contact metal and access electrodes, simple fabrication process, and 2x10(-10)Omega-cm(2) resolution for highly-accurate extraction of specific contact resistivity (rho(c)) in the similar to 10(-10) to 10(-9)Omega-cm(2) regime is demonstrated. The current distribution and extraction of rho(c) in LTLM are verified by TCAD and numerical distributive-resistor-network method, respectively. The extraction error caused by the current spreading and crowding in LTLM are modeled, and design guidelines to achieve 10(-10) Omega-cm(2) resolution for rho(c) extraction are provided. By applying LTLM to the Ni/p(+)-Ge0.95Sn0.05 contact, a record-low rho(c) down to 4.0 +/- 2.0x10(-10 )Omega-cm(2) was obtained. LTLM is insensitive to variation of metal resistance, unlike the refined TLM (RTLM) which could overestimate rho(c) by at least tens of times.