Activation energy for the hydrogenation of iron in p-type crystalline silicon wafers

Kate Mclean*, Chris Morrow, Daniel Macdonald

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    15 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The rate at which atomic hydrogen from silicon nitride films passivates interstitial iron in crystalline silicon has been measured at various temperatures. Both conventional quartz tube furnace annealing and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) were used to drive the hydrogen into the silicon wafers. The results allow an estimation of the activation energy for the hydrogenation process. For both annealing methods, this energy was found to be much larger than the migration enthalpy of atomic hydrogen in silicon. This suggests that the hydrogenation process is not diffusion-limited. Rapid thermal annealing was found to yield faster hydrogenation than conventional processing, and the results hint at a reduced activation energy as well. Over the temperature range 700 - 900°C, hydrogen was found to passivate approximately 80% of the initial interstitial Fe atoms after 140 s of RTA.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationConference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC-4
    PublisherIEEE Computer Society
    Pages1122-1125
    Number of pages4
    ISBN (Print)1424400163, 9781424400164
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2006
    Event2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC-4 - Waikoloa, HI, United States
    Duration: 7 May 200612 May 2006

    Publication series

    NameConference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC-4
    Volume1

    Conference

    Conference2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC-4
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CityWaikoloa, HI
    Period7/05/0612/05/06

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