Scanning capacitance microscopy of nanostructures

A theory is developed for scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) of samples containing quantum wells, nanowires, and nanodots. The observed SCM image does not reproduce the geometric characteristics of the system but can be used for extracting some important information. For quantum wells and nanowire arrays, SCM gives an opportunity to determine the doping level of nanostructures. For individual nanowires and dots, the positions and amplitude of SCM maxima give, respectively, the in-plane location and the depth of the objects, and the pattern shape is extremely sensitive to the nanowire orientation.