Hydrogen passivation of gold-related deep levels in silicon

Abstract

The passivation by reaction with atomic hydrogen of the well-known deep donor and acceptor levels associated with gold in silicon has been observed with the use of deep-level transient spectroscopy. The concentration profiles of the two centers are presented as a function of the duration and temperature of the exposure to atomic hydrogen: When exposed for 2 h at 350°C, less than 5 × ${10}^{-3\mathrm{}}$ of the originally electrically active deep donors and acceptors remained to a depth of approximately 7 μm. Slight but significant differences in the concentration profiles of the electrically active defect centers after reaction with the atomic hydrogen may be additional evidence that the gold donor level and gold acceptor level are not related to the same center.