Method for the formation of cylindrical current and its application to evaluate electrical resistivity

A cylindrical current method is developed to obtain a stable and precise electrical resistivity of a specimen with or without a coating film. The electrical resistivity of a standard silicon wafer doped with boron at a concentration can be measured using the proposed method if the experimental results of electrical voltage varying with the distance from the center line of the cylindrical current are available. A comparison of the electrical resistivity obtained using the present method and the theoretical reference value indicates that the proposed method produces reliable and precise measurements. Using four test samples, the experimental results of electrical resistivity measured by the present method are shown to be reproducible and more precise than those measured by the four-terminal sensing method and the van der Pauw method. The electrical voltage and current obtained at various distances from the center line of the cylindrical current are almost independent of the distance and the direction of measurements. The effect of specimen's crystallinity appears to be the governing factor of electrical resistivity. Electrical resistivity decreases with increasing crystallinity generally.