A Capacitance Method to Determine Channel Lengths for Conventional and LDD MOSFET's

A simple method for determining the channel length and in situ gate-oxide thickness of MOSFETs is described. The method is based on the linear relationship between the intrinsic gate capacitance and effective channel length. Measurements from two gate biases on devices of different channel lengths are sufficient to obtain a full characterization. In contrast to the channel-resistance method, the accuracy of the capacitance method is independent of the source-drain and contact series resistance. It can, therefore, be used for conventional as well as lightly-doped drain (LDD) devices. Channel length and gate-oxide thickness determined by this method are given for conventional and LDD MOSFET's. For conventional MOSFET's, the new method agrees with the traditional effective length measurements to better than 0.1 μm.