On the electrically active gold–hydrogen complexes in n-Si

The annealing kinetics (410–450 K) of gold–hydrogen complexes in n-type silicon gold-diffused and hydrogenated by wet chemical etching were studied using deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and capacitance–voltage (C-V) techniques. The results show that there are at least two different electrically active gold–hydrogen complexes. These complexes behavior which depends on bias applied during the annealing is closely related to hydrogen concentration. The observations are illustrated by a phenomenological model taking into account the effect of availability of hydrogen in the samples.