Publications Details

Hydrogen Reactions with Dangling Bonds in Si and Si-SiO₂ Structures

Myers, S.M.; Brower, K.L.; Follstaedt, D.M.; Richards, P.M.; Stein, H.J.; Wampler, W.R.

Hydrogen is highly mobile in Si and vitreous SiO₂, and it reacts strongly with dangling bonds residing on Si and O atoms. These interactions have important consequences for metal-oxide- semiconductor structures, with noteworthy effects including the passivation of electrically active defects, mediation of radiation sensitivity, chemical passivation of etched Si surfaces, and still poorly understood effects on epitaxial growth from H-containing media. Despite the significance of these H reactions, fundamental understanding of them has remained seriously deficient; the H bonding energies have been known semiquantitatively at best, and the detailed reaction paths and rate-determining energetics of intermediate states have remained largely speculative. We are addressing these issues through a coordinated program of experiment and theory with the goal of a unified, quantitatively predictive understanding.