Investigation of the Hydrogen Content of Silicon in an Integrated Rapid Thermal Processing Reactor

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe effects of H2 and H atoms on electronic properties of crystalline silicon is of great interest to many scientists and technologists involved in developing and manufacturing of microelectronic devices. Hydrogen is of interest because of its ability to interact with defects and impurities in single crystal silicon, its abundance in many processing steps, and its effect on electronic structure of the interface between Si and SiO2. Here we present results of experiments examining the gas phase concentration of impurities during thermal oxidation and annealing of p(100) silicon. These experiments reveal that a significant quantity of hydrogen is contained in virgin wafers, which may have significant impact on thermal processing. A brief review of studies done on hydrogen diffusion in p-type silicon is provided with a perspective to the process investigated here.