This work presents the properties and applications of high vacuum scanning spreading resistance microscopy (HV-SSRM) for two-dimensional carrier profiling. Characteristics of this concept in terms of spatial resolution and dopant gradient resolution as well as in terms of concentration sensitivity and quantification procedures are briefly presented. Insight in process optimization and junction engineering is demonstrated by linking the carrier profiles extracted from HV-SSRM technique with electrical device characteristics for a laser-only annealed p-MOSFET lot targeting the 32 nm node. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.