Scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM) was performed in surrounding-gate transistors for 70 nm dynamic random access memories. Sub-10 nm features were resolved using full diamond tips and different processing schemes were correlated with the electrical characteristics of the devices and the SSRM measurements. SSRM was found to be a powerful tool for the characterization and failure analysis determination of this device concept in the very small scale. (C) 2004 American Vacuum Society.