Oxygen '96

Early Stages of Oxygen Precipitation in Silicon

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HYDROGEN-OXYGEN INTERACTIONS IN SILICON

S. K. Estreicher (a) and Y. K. Park (b)

(a) Physics Department, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1051
(b) Physics Department, University of California, Irvine, CA 92717

Interstitial hydrogen plays many roles in crystalline Si, the best known of which are probably the shallow-dopant passivation reactions. Hydrogen also activates electrically inactive impurities, passivates some deep-level defects and impurities, and creates its own electrically and optically active centres. Hydrogen interacts with the A-centre, passivates O-related thermal donors (TDs) at low temperatures, considerably enhances their formation rate at intermediate temperatures (300-450 degrees C), and under some conditions, becomes a component of TDs. None of the various interactions involving H and O in silicon are understood. However, various pieces of the puzzle(s) are becoming available from a variety of experimental and theoretical sources. One fact - although it may be too early to call it that - is that H plays a purely catalytic role as it enhances the diffusivity of interstitial O. Two models for this reaction have been proposed, and molecular dynamics simulations are underway to learn more about this fundamental process. This talk will summarise the experimental and theoretical work on H-O interactions in Si, with emphasis on the interactions between the two interstitials.

Last modified: Mon Feb 19 12:11:16 GMT 1996 JG