Hydrogen interaction with electrically active centers in silicon

Epitaxial silicon diodes with low amounts of impurities have been irradiated with 6 MeV electrons in order to generate defects in a concentration suitable for study by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). It has been found that hydrogen interacts strongly with vacancy-related defects, such as the vacancy-oxygen (VO) center. These interactions can be monitored through the formation of the vacancy-oxygen-hydrogen (VOH) center, and this trapping of hydrogen persists at temperatures in excess of 300°C. The diffusion length of hydrogen has been found to be on the order of 10 ¿m in low doped Si. The defect evolutions during the trapping of hydrogen can be accurately modeled by a set of coupled differential equations describing the most prominent reactions involved.