Mathematical analysis of Van der Pauw’s method for measuring resistivity

Abstract

The Van der Pauw method has tremendous significance in measuring material resistivity in arbitrary shapes. The extended Van der Pauw method can be used to measure the resistivity of anisotropic materials or even materials with holes without enormous measurements or calculations. However, the method requires that the material be thin enough to be considered quasi-two-dimension, and the measurement of equivalent resistance is largely influenced by contact resistance. This paper aims to find the factors that influence the measurement’s accuracy by formula analyzing, trying to improve the precision of Van der Pauw’s measurement.