Hydrogen diffusion in silicon from plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride film at high temperature

Sheoran, Manav; Kim, Dong Seop; Rohatgi, A.; Dekkers, H.F.W.; Beaucarne, G.; Young, Matthew R.; Asher, S. E.

doi:10.1063/1.2917467

Cited by 39 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…It is likely that the reverse process, the interface hydrogenation, also involves the diffusion of H 2 in SiO 2 . A possible role of atomic hydrogen, as has been reported for dense a-SiN x :H layers, 21 cannot be conclusively established on the basis of the presented data as the effusion measurements only detect stable molecules.…”

Section: Fig 2 ͑Color Online͒ Deuterium Depth Profiles Measured Witcontrasting

confidence: 38%

Hydrogen induced passivation of Si interfaces by Al2O3 films and SiO2/Al2O3 stacks

Dingemans

Beyer

Sanden

et al. 2010

Applied Physics Letters

172

123

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The role of hydrogen in Si surface passivation is experimentally identified for Al2O3 (capping) films synthesized by atomic layer deposition. By using stacks of SiO2 and deuterated Al2O3, we demonstrate that hydrogen is transported from Al2O3 to the underlying SiO2 already at relatively low annealing temperatures of 400 °C. This leads to a high level of chemical passivation of the interface. Moreover, the thermal stability of the passivation up to 800 °C was significantly improved by applying a thin Al2O3 capping film on the SiO2. The hydrogen released from the Al2O3 film favorably influences the passivation of Si interface defects.

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Section: Fig 2 ͑Color Online͒ Deuterium Depth Profiles Measured Witcontrasting

confidence: 38%

Hydrogen induced passivation of Si interfaces by Al2O3 films and SiO2/Al2O3 stacks

Dingemans

Beyer

Sanden

et al. 2010

Applied Physics Letters

172

123

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“…A role for atomic H has also been reported for dense a-SiN x :H films. 27,52,53 The observation that hydrogen diffusion can take place in Al 2 O 3 at relatively low annealing temperatures has been corroborated by secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiling.…”

Section: Hydrogen Diffusionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Influence of annealing and Al2O3 properties on the hydrogen-induced passivation of the Si/SiO2 interface

Dingemans¹,

Einsele²,

Beyer³

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

141

131

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Annealing at moderate temperatures is required to activate the silicon surface passivation by Al2O3 thin films while also the thermal stability at higher temperatures is important when Al2O3 is implemented in solar cells with screenprinted metallization. In this paper, the relationship between the microstructure of the Al2O3 film, hydrogen diffusion, and defect passivation is explored in detail for a wide range of annealing temperatures. The chemical passivation was studied using stacks of thermally-grown SiO2 and Al2O3 synthesized by atomic layer deposition. Thermal effusion measurements of hydrogen and implanted He and Ne atoms were used to elucidate the role of hydrogen during annealing. We show that the passivation properties were strongly dependent on the annealing temperature and time and were significantly influenced by the Al2O3 microstructure. The latter was tailored by variation of the deposition temperature (Tdep = 50 °C–400 °C) with hydrogen concentration [H] between 1 and 13 at.% and mass density ρmass between 2.7 and 3.2 g/cm3. In contrast to films with intermediate material properties, the passivation by low- and high density films showed a reduced thermal stability at relatively high annealing temperatures (∼600 °C). These observations proved to be in good agreement with thermal effusion results of hydrogen and inert gas atoms that were also strongly dependent on film microstructure. We demonstrate that the temperature of maximum effusion decreased for films with progressively lower density (i.e., with increasing [H]). Therefore, the reduced thermal stability of the passivation for low-density hydrogen-rich ([H] >∼5 at. %) films can be attributed to a loss of hydrogen at relatively low annealing temperatures. In contrast, the lower initial [H] for dense Al2O3 films can likely explain the lower thermal stability associated with these films. The effusion measurements also allowed us to discuss the role of molecular- and atomic hydrogen during annealing.

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“…Since it is shown here that atomic hydrogen release and proton migration through SiN x :H is a possibility in N-rich films, this might happen inside dense SiN x :H as well. The amount of hydrogen needed to passivate SiN x :H is much smaller than the amount of hydrogen in SiN x :H [5]. A small amount of hydrogen following the path of reaction (3) is already sufficient to hydrogenate underlying Si substrates and to improve minority carrier recombination in mc-Si.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Despite the fact that the exact nature of defects in mc-Si, subject to this passivation, is not clearly identified [3], significant improvements in minority carrier lifetimes in mc-Si substrates are observed after thermal treatment [4]. Several experiments demonstrated fast diffusion of hydrogen through crystalline Si samples of a few hundred micrometers thickness [5,6]. Fast diffusion is only possible when hydrogen is in an atomic form [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Proton formation and diffusion in amorphous SiN_x:H

et al. 2011

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In this work the release of atomic hydrogen from SiN x :H films is investigated. Thermal treatment as well as UV-illumination induces the formation of H 2 , increasing the tensile stress in the film. N-rich SiN x :H films release hydrogen only by UV-illumination, indicating involvement of charge trapping. Ab initio calculations show a possible reaction path for the release and diffusion of protons that also explain the diffusion of hydrogen into Si substrates.

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Hydrogen diffusion in silicon from plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride film at high temperature

Cited by 39 publications

References 10 publications

Hydrogen induced passivation of Si interfaces by Al2O3 films and SiO2/Al2O3 stacks

Hydrogen induced passivation of Si interfaces by Al2O3 films and SiO2/Al2O3 stacks

Influence of annealing and Al2O3 properties on the hydrogen-induced passivation of the Si/SiO2 interface

Proton formation and diffusion in amorphous SiN_x:H

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Hydrogen diffusion in silicon from plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride film at high temperature

Cited by 39 publications

References 10 publications

Hydrogen induced passivation of Si interfaces by Al2O3 films and SiO2/Al2O3 stacks

Hydrogen induced passivation of Si interfaces by Al2O3 films and SiO2/Al2O3 stacks

Influence of annealing and Al2O3 properties on the hydrogen-induced passivation of the Si/SiO2 interface

Proton formation and diffusion in amorphous SiNx:H

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Proton formation and diffusion in amorphous SiN_x:H