Hydrogen-plasma-induced thermal donors in high resistivity n-type magnetic Czochralski-grown silicon

In this work, the formation of donors in n-type high resistivity magnetic Czochralski-grown silicon wafers, directly exposed to a hydrogen plasma, is investigated by a combination of capacitance-voltage (C-V) and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements. C-V analysis demonstrates diffusionlike concentration profiles close to the surface, pointing to the formation of hydrogen-related shallow donors in silicon during the hydrogenation. In addition, oxygen thermal donors are created during a subsequent annealing (20 min) performed at 350-450 degrees C, as demonstrated by DLTS. It is shown that the hydrogen-related shallow donors are the dominant donors in as-hydrogenated samples, while hydrogen acts as a catalyst during the formation of oxygen thermal donors in the temperature range of 350-450 degrees C. It is finally shown that the formation of both kinds of donors is Fermi-level dependent. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.