Local surface potential measurement of Pd/GaAs contact and anodized aluminum films using scanning probe microscopy

We show that the surface potential measurement using scanning probe microscopy can measure potential distributions of a Pd/GaAs contact and absolute values of the potentials on individual anodized aluminum films. A potential difference was obtained between the Pd film and GaAs substrate, which is close to the barrier height of the same Pd/GaAs contact as estimated from the conventional current - voltage method. For the anodized aluminum films, we clarified that the surface potential varies with surface treatments by measuring absolute values of the potential for individual samples.