Hydrogen in Crystalline Silicon

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe ability of hydrogen to migrate in crystalline Si at low temperatures (<400°C) and bond to a variety of both shallow and deep level impurities, passivating their electrical activity, is of fundamental and technological interest. Recent results on the deactivation of the shallow acceptors in Si are compared with similar experiments in other semiconductors, microscopic models are proposed, and the implications for the states of hydrogen in the Si lattice at a variety of temperatures, and the diffusivity of some of these different states, is discussed. New results on the migration of atomic hydrogen under electronic stimulation are also detailed, along with a compendium of the deep levels in Si passivated by reaction with hydrogen. Surface damage by hydrogen-containing plasmas, and the infrared and electrical properties of H-related defect complexes are also reviewed.