Hydrogen reintroduction by forming gas annealing to LPCVD silicon nitride coated structures

Hao Jin*, K. J. Weber, P. N.K. Deenapanray, A. W. Blakers

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    12 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The effect of high-temperature anneals on low-pressure chemical-vapor deposited (LPCVD) Si3 N4 /thermally grown SiO2 stacks on silicon wafers has been studied. Annealing in a nitrogen atmosphere at 900 or 1000°C for 30 min causes a substantial reduction in both N-H and Si-H bond concentration in the nitride film and a significant degradation of surface passivation. Subsequent anneals in forming gas (95% Ar/5% H2) at temperatures in the range 800-900°C lead to a gradual reformation of N-H and Si-H bonds and an improvement in surface passivation. It is hypothesized that the chief mechanism responsible for the improvement in surface passivation is the passivation of defects at the Si- SiO2 interface with atomic hydrogen, supplied by the breaking of N-H and Si-H bonds in the nitride film. Samples with SiO2 Si3 N4 stacks display excellent surface passivation following high-temperature forming gas anneals, indicating that such treatments can be used for photovoltaic applications, where surface passivation as well as good optical properties are important.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number033608JES
    Pages (from-to)G750-G754
    JournalJournal of the Electrochemical Society
    Volume153
    Issue number8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Aug 2006

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