Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers
The review concentrates on the analysis of the RF hydrogen plasma effect on thin-film metal-dioxide-silicon and silicon-dioxide silicon structures which are a modern basis of micro- and nanoelectronics. The especial attention is paid to athermic mechanisms of transformation of defects in dioxi...
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Інститут фізики напівпровідників імені В.Є. Лашкарьова НАН України
2008
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| Zitieren: | Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers / A.N. Nazarov, V.S. Lysenko, T.M. Nazarova // Semiconductor Physics Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics. — 2008. — Т. 11, № 2. — С. 101-123. — Бібліогр.: 143 назв. — англ. |
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irk-123456789-1188552017-06-01T03:06:58Z Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers Nazarov, A.N. Lysenko, V.S. Nazarova, T.M. The review concentrates on the analysis of the RF hydrogen plasma effect on thin-film metal-dioxide-silicon and silicon-dioxide silicon structures which are a modern basis of micro- and nanoelectronics. The especial attention is paid to athermic mechanisms of transformation of defects in dioxide, SiO₂-Si interface and SiO₂-Si nanocrystal ones and thin layers of silicon; atomic hydrogen influence on the annealing of vacancy defects and the implanted impurity activation in a subsurface implanted silicon layer; and the hydrogen plasma effect on luminescent properties of nanostructured light emitting materials. 2008 Article Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers / A.N. Nazarov, V.S. Lysenko, T.M. Nazarova // Semiconductor Physics Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics. — 2008. — Т. 11, № 2. — С. 101-123. — Бібліогр.: 143 назв. — англ. 1560-8034 PACS 52.77.-j, 61.72.Tt, 68.55.Jk, 73.63.-b http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/118855 en Semiconductor Physics Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics Інститут фізики напівпровідників імені В.Є. Лашкарьова НАН України |
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The review concentrates on the analysis of the RF hydrogen plasma effect on
thin-film metal-dioxide-silicon and silicon-dioxide silicon structures which are a modern
basis of micro- and nanoelectronics. The especial attention is paid to athermic
mechanisms of transformation of defects in dioxide, SiO₂-Si interface and SiO₂-Si
nanocrystal ones and thin layers of silicon; atomic hydrogen influence on the annealing
of vacancy defects and the implanted impurity activation in a subsurface implanted
silicon layer; and the hydrogen plasma effect on luminescent properties of nanostructured
light emitting materials. |
| format |
Article |
| author |
Nazarov, A.N. Lysenko, V.S. Nazarova, T.M. |
| spellingShingle |
Nazarov, A.N. Lysenko, V.S. Nazarova, T.M. Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers Semiconductor Physics Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics |
| author_facet |
Nazarov, A.N. Lysenko, V.S. Nazarova, T.M. |
| author_sort |
Nazarov, A.N. |
| title |
Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers |
| title_short |
Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers |
| title_full |
Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers |
| title_fullStr |
Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers |
| title_sort |
hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers |
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Інститут фізики напівпровідників імені В.Є. Лашкарьова НАН України |
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2008 |
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http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/118855 |
| citation_txt |
Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures and nanostructured layers / A.N. Nazarov, V.S. Lysenko, T.M. Nazarova // Semiconductor Physics Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics. — 2008. — Т. 11, № 2. — С. 101-123. — Бібліогр.: 143 назв. — англ. |
| series |
Semiconductor Physics Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT nazarovan hydrogenplasmatreatmentofsiliconthinfilmstructuresandnanostructuredlayers AT lysenkovs hydrogenplasmatreatmentofsiliconthinfilmstructuresandnanostructuredlayers AT nazarovatm hydrogenplasmatreatmentofsiliconthinfilmstructuresandnanostructuredlayers |
| first_indexed |
2025-07-08T14:47:14Z |
| last_indexed |
2025-07-08T14:47:14Z |
| _version_ |
1837090509580926976 |
| fulltext |
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
101
PACS 52.77.-j, 61.72.Tt, 68.55.Jk, 73.63.-b
Hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon thin-film structures
and nanostructured layers
A.N. Nazarov1, V.S. Lysenko1, T.M. Nazarova2
1V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
2National Technical University of Ukraine “KPI”
E-mail: nazarov@lab15.kiev.ua
Abstract. The review concentrates on the analysis of the RF hydrogen plasma effect on
thin-film metal-dioxide-silicon and silicon-dioxide silicon structures which are a modern
basis of micro- and nanoelectronics. The especial attention is paid to athermic
mechanisms of transformation of defects in dioxide, SiO2-Si interface and SiO2-Si
nanocrystal ones and thin layers of silicon; atomic hydrogen influence on the annealing
of vacancy defects and the implanted impurity activation in a subsurface implanted
silicon layer; and the hydrogen plasma effect on luminescent properties of nanostructured
light emitting materials.
Keywords: silicon thin-film structures, hydrogen plasma treatment, nanostructured layer.
Manuscript received 22.04.08; accepted for publication 15.05.08; published online 30.07.08.
1. Introduction
The decrease of sizes of integrated circuit (IC) elements
fabricated on the basis of a multilayer system such as the
dielectric-semiconductor or semiconductor-dielectric-
semiconductor ones leads to the necessity to research
and to develop new technological methods. These
methods have to allow one to create thin doped
semiconductor layers without point and extended defects
and the devices with small and controlled channel length
and to reduce of the dispersion of electrical charac-
teristics. Especially, it is related to the Si-based CMOS
technology that is a basis of modern micro- and
nanoelectronics. Nowadays, to diminish the diffusion
redistribution of a dopant in the ion implanted regions of
source and drain p-n junctions or of the MOSFET
channel, the low-temperature (800-850 °C) thermal
annealing or rapid thermal annealing (RTA) is used [1].
However, in some cases, the large mechanical stresses
and structural defects can be produced. Additionally, the
intensive development of nanotechnologies for the
fabrication of nanostructured semiconductor materials
and devices requires to create new methods to control
the size and properties of nanocrystals incorporated in
the semiconductor or insulator matrix and the nano-
crystal/matrix interface.
The radio-frequency (RF) plasma treatment [2] is
one of the unique methods for these cases. This method
was employed in microelectronics from the time when the
plasma-chemical technology began to be incorporated into
the ICs fabrication. Nowadays, one of the kinds of this
method (hydrogen plasma treatment) is employed for the
fabrication of 3D ICs based on polysilicon films [3], for
the solar cell production [4], and for thin-film transistor
(TFT) fabrication in solid-state flat panel displays [5, 6].
Previously it was deemed that the effects of UV or
X-radiation and electron-ion bombardment (that
accompanies the RF plasma treatment) are dangerous for
the samples and have not to take part in the treatment
[7]. However, as it will be shown latter, a correct choice
of the treatment regime and the corresponding equip-
ment for this goal could reveal the brilliant qualities of
such an effect. These ones include: 1) annealing of
positive charges in SiO2 [2, 8] and surface state traps on
the SiO2-Si interface [9] and the semiconductor nano-
crystals / amorphous matrix interface [10-12]; 2) en-
hanced annealing and passivation of radiation defects in
the thin subsurface silicon layer [13, 14]; 3) activation of
implanted dopants in this layer at low temperatures [15];
4) formation of amorphous layers with fully structural
relaxation of the amorphous network [16, 17].
The origin of the RF plasma annealing of the
charge in the dielectric and subsurface semiconductor
layer has been discussed in some papers [2, 18-20]. The
main attention was devoted to the nonthermal processes
of charge neutralization and charge annealing [20-22],
especially this is referred to the processes of hydrogen
passivation of defects and impurities in semiconductors
[22, 23]. In last years of the twentieth century, the
considerable number of reviewed papers has been
devoted to the hydrogen problem in crystalline
semiconductors [23-30], and a number of significant
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
102
international conferences included this question in their
scientific programs [31-34]. But up today, there is no
sufficiently full analysis of the physical processes
running during the RF plasma treatment and leading to a
considerable change of properties of the main micro- and
nanoelectronics material which is the SiO2-Si system.
In this connection, the goal of this review consists
in the consideration of the RF hydrogen plasma effect on
electrical and structural properties of the main parts of
the SiO2-Si system (silicon dioxide, SiO2-Si interface,
and thin subsurface silicon layer) and in the analysis of
various factors impacted this system. The main attention
is spared to the nature of structural transformations of
defects and the amorphous silicon layer during their
interaction with atomic hydrogen under intense defect
recharging. On the basis of this analysis, the prospects of
applications of the hydrogen plasma annealing are
considered.
2. Factors influencing the structures
under plasma treatment
2.1. Main kinds of plasma reactors
Usually, in RF plasma treatments, the modified plasma-
etching equipment is employed. Nowadays, two kinds of
plasma reactors have a wide distribution: cylindrical
quartz reactors with outer electrodes with capacitive
(Fig. 1a) or inductive (Fig. 1b) coupling into gas [23];
parallel-plate type reactors with inner electrodes, in
which a wafer is located between the grounded and RF
electrodes (Fig. 2) [2, 14, 35].
In dependence on the goals of plasma treatment, a
wafer can be located either directly in the plasma
discharge (Fig. 2) or out of plasma (Fig. 1b). The last
case is employed for the pure hydrogen passivation
process and is used when all other effects except for
hydrogenation are injurious. However, it is shown [36]
that the simple system, which is depicted in Fig. 1b,
possesses significant problems regarding to the UV
radiation and energetic particle bombardment, and only
the special design of a reactor allows one to reach pure
hydrogenation.
2.2. Factors affecting the samples in RF plasma discharge
When it is necessary to perform a more effective
treatment, the wafer is located on the RF electrode in a
parallel-plate-type reactor (Fig. 2). In this case, the
following factors can affect the sample: 1) ion and
electron low-energetic bombardment; 2) ionizing X-ray
or UV radiation; 3) alternating electric field; 4) thermal
heating and hydrogen as an active gas contained in the
plasma discharge.
Usually, the RF plasma treatment is performed
when a frequency is 13.6 MHz, pressure is from 10–3 to
10–2 Torr, and power density is from 0.01 to 2.4 W/cm2.
The electric field amplitude can be reach 2×103 V, and
the treatment time is from 1 to 100 min in dependence
on the power density [3, 18].
Fig. 1. Plasma-chemical reactors employed for the hydro-
genation of a wafer with capacitive (a) and inductive (b)
generation.
Let us consider the above-mentioned factors more
attentively. Factors 1 and 2 are closely related to the
frequency, the amplitude of the alternating electric field,
and the pressure in a chamber. Indeed, because the
electron and ion masses are considerably distinguished,
the electron energy can considerably differ from the ion
energy in dependence on the generator frequency. At the
usually used gas pressure (near 10–2 Torr) and a standard
frequency of the plasma treatment (13.6 MHz), the
electrons have time during a half-period of the signal to
reach the electrodes with the energy which equals to the
RF signal amplitude (in volts). The interaction of elec-
trons with the electrodes leads to the appearance of soft
X-rays with energies corresponding to those of electrons.
That is, electrons and X-ray radiation in RF plasma
discharges can reach energies up to 2×103 eV [37].
Fig. 2. Parallel-plate type reactor for RF plasma treatment.
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
103
Fig. 5. Sample temperature vs. RF plasma power density for
various conditions: without additional heating of the RF
electrode (1), with additional heating up to 150 °C (2), and
250 °C (3). The circles and triangles are experimental points
measured by calibrated thermally sensitive paints.
P
ot
en
tia
l
RF electrode Grounded
electrode
+
- Distance
Vground
V RF
Fig. 3. Average potential distribution in a parallel-plate type
reactor.
Fig. 4. Photon absorption coefficient for Al and SiO2 as a
function of the photon energy [18].
Since the ions have not enough time for the motion
from one to another electrode for a time of changing the
signal polarity in the space between the electrodes, the
specific distribution of the electrical potential has to be
established (see Fig. 3) [38]. Thus, any surface
incorporated into a RF plasma discharge has to be
negatively charged relative to the ion cloud, and
positively charged ions will bombard this surface.
Usually, the energy of ions bombarding the samples
located on a RF electrode does not exceed 200 eV [37]
and, in the case of a sample located on the grounded
electrode, equals 2 eV [39].
In most cases, the RF plasma treatment is used for
the control over the properties of totally fabricated sys-
tems, i.e. metallized dielectric-semiconductor structures.
Low-energy electrons and ions cannot penetrate through
the metal electrode with thickness near 100-200 nm.
However, the photons with energies more than 100 eV
can penetrate through aluminum and the dielectric layer
(Fig. 4) and reach the subsurface silicon layer.
Radiation and the alternating electric field can lead
to the hole-electron injection from a semiconductor or a
metal into a dielectric [18], which strongly affects the
electrical and chemical processes running in the
dielectric.
Ion and electron bombardments result in the
heating of a wafer. The temperature of a sample is an
important factor that determines the course of various
chemical reactions running in the treated sample. The
temperature is directly related to the RF treatment
power, and it is controlled in dependence on the
necessary result. The temperature of a sample located on
the RF electrode in the parallel-plate-type reactor is
presented in Fig. 5. It was measured with the use of
special calibrated paints that change their color with
variation in the temperature [40, 41]. It is seen that the
sample temperature does not exceed 450 °C at the most
intensive plasma treatments.
2.3. Hydrogen incorporation into SiO2-Si and Si-SiO2-Si
structures under plasma treatment
In papers [42, 43], it was established that the plasma-
chemical etching of SiO2-Si structures can lead to the
atomic hydrogen permeation into the subsurface silicon
layer. The similar effect has been observed after the RF
plasma treatment of a structure in the nitrogen [44] and
oxygen [39] atmospheres. In the case of a SiO2-Si
structure treated by RF nitrogen plasma, the thermal
hydrogen effusion spectrum from silicon exhibits a
considerable increase of the signal at temperatures near
and above 500 °C (Fig. 6) [20]. This evidences the
creation of additional hydrogen bonds during the treat-
ment. The breaking of Si-H bonds has been suggested to
be responsible for this signal [20, 45].
Hydrogen penetrating into silicon has been
suggested to be related to the presence of hydrogen in the
outer gaseous atmosphere (as a residual moisture in the
nitrogen atmosphere) and with hydrogen collected in SiO2
[20]. Nowadays, the direct measurements of the hydrogen
concentration in SiO2 have been performed by the method
of nuclear resonance reactions [46-48]. The hydrogen
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
104
concentration is determined to be weakly dependent on
the SiO2 fabrication method and is in the range from
1×1019 to 4×1021 cm–2 (see Fig. 7). The hydrogen con-
centration increases significantly after the deposition of a
metal electrode (especially aluminum) on SiO2. In
addition, the maximum hydrogen concentration is
observed on the metal-dielectric interface. The following
annealing in a forming gas at 450 °C increases the
hydrogen concentration by a factor of more than 20 [47].
Fig. 6. Thermal desorption spectra of H2
+ molecules from a
silicon implanted layer after RF plasma treatment of SiO2-Si
structures: 1 – initial structures (without treatment); 2 – after
RF nitrogen plasma treatment; (t = 30 min, P = 2.0 W/cm2,
Theat = 150 °C).
Fig. 7. Hydrogen distributions measured by the method of
nuclear resonance reactions in (a) Al-SiO2-Si structures
fabricated by dry-wet-dry (●) and extra-dry oxidizing (▲), and
(b) SiO2-Si structures fabricated by dry oxidizing (●) and CVD
(▲) [47].
Fig. 8. Free carrier profiles in the subsurface silicon layer of
Al-SiO2-pSi structures (B+ implantation, Tann = 1000 °C,
t = 60 min): 1) initial sample; 2) RF plasma treatment without
additional heating (P = 0.9 W/cm2; t = 30 min); 3) vacuum
thermal annealing at 180 °C during 30 min following the RF
plasma treatment (30 min); 4) vacuum thermal annealing at
200 °C during 30 min following the RF plasma treatment
(30 min) [44].
The hydrogen bond concentration in SiO2 has been
determined by IR spectroscopy [49]. The concentrations
of Si-H and Si-OH bonds in dry thermal oxide were near
1×1020 cm–3, and they were considerably lower (near
3×1019 cm–3) in the stream thermal oxide.
If X-rays (or UV irradiation) affect the Al-SiO2-Si
structure, to which the electric field is applied (factors
that affects the structure during the RF plasma
treatment), such joint effect has been shown to lead to
the electron and hole injection into a dielectric [18]. The
injected carriers, in their turn, promote the breaking of
Si-H and Si-OH bonds and the release of hydrogen
which will diffuse towards the SiO2-Si interface [50].
During the carrier injection into SiO2 (as it has been
established in works [51-53]), the released atomic
hydrogen is incorporated into the subsurface silicon
layer and passivates the dopants.
The similar results have been obtained for the Al-
SiO2-Si structures treated by the RF forming gas (10 %
H2, 90 % N2) plasma at a low specific power and without
the additional heating of a sample [38]. As seen from
Fig. 8, such RF plasma treatment leads to the
neutralization of the electrical activity of boron in the
subsurface silicon layer. The following thermal
annealing in vacuum at 200 °C restores its electrical
activity, which totally corresponds to the creation and to
the destruction of the electrically neutral Si=B-H-Si
complex [23] and supports the suggestion about the
diffusion of atomic hydrogen or protons from/through
dioxide into the silicon substrate. Thus, silicon dioxide
plays an essential role in the hydrogenation of the SiO2-
Si interface and the Si subsurface layer.
In a number of works [54-56] with the use of the
method of Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS), it
was shown that, under the RF deuterium plasma treat-
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
105
ment at 250 ºC for 30 min, deuterium from the plasma
can be incorporated into the subsurface layer of the Si
substrate of the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure with
thicknesses of the Si layer and the buried oxide (BOX)
of about, respectively, 200 and 400 nm (see Fig. 9a).
Under the employed regime, deuterium is embedded
mainly in the BOX/silicon film and the BOX/silicon
substrate interfaces, and its distribution corresponds to a
nonstoichiometric composition of BOX [56] (Fig. 9a and
9b). The deuterium concentration inside of BOX reaches
1·1017 at/cm3 and more.
The performed experiments evidence that, during
the RF plasma treatment, hydrogen in the form of atomic
hydrogen or protons enters the multilayer SiO2-Si
structure both from dioxide and from the RF plasma and
can diffuse into the structure on large distances (up to
1 µm). Under such a treatment, hydrogen is mainly
collected in the SiO2-Si interfaces and at various defects
associated with a nonstoichiometry of the SiO2 matrix.
Fig. 9. The SIMS distribution of deuterium, oxygen, and
silicon in SOI structures fabricated by SIMOX (a) and
UNIBOND (b) techniques which was measured after
deuteration at 250 °C during 30 min (RF specific power –
1 W/cm2) [56].
3. SiO2-Si interface transformation
under plasma treatment
The RF plasma treatment considerably decreases the
surface state (SS) concentration in the SiO2-Si interface
[9, 57, 58]. It was shown in [9, 57] that there is a definite
duration and a specific power of the process that leads to
a minimum SS concentration (Fig. 10). The similar
dependence of the SS concentration vs. the treatment
duration and the temperature is also revealed under the
low-temperature hydrogen annealing of Al-SiO2-Si
structures [59-61] and can be explained by the com-
petition of two processes: first, the neutralization of
dangling bonds by atomic hydrogen in the SiO2-Si
interface [61-63]
Si3 ≡ Si- + H → Si3 ≡ Si-H (1)
and, second, the break of Si-H bonds [62]
Si3 ≡ Si-H → Si3 ≡ Si- + H (2)
or the depassivation of dangling bonds [63]
Si3 ≡ Si-H + H → Si3 ≡Si- + H2 . (3)
Fig. 10. (a) “Flat band” voltage and (b) the surface state
density versus the time of the RF plasma treatment of initial
Al-SiO2-Si structures. The dependences are obtained by
measuring the reverse sweep plateau of low-temperature C-V
characteristics ( ), by TSCR method (o), and by the Gray-
Brown method (∆) [57].
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
106
Fig. 11. Integral concentration of electron surface traps, ΣNSS,
(■) and the total concentration of shallow traps, ΣNt, near the
c- (●) and v-zones (▲), the total concentration of shallow
traps near the c-zone without accounting for the Ec – 0.045 eV
level (○) and the total concentration of the shallow traps near
the v-zone without accounting for the Ev + 0.045 eV level (∆)
versus the RF treatment time at P = 1.5 W/cm2 [9].
Table 1. Energy position (Ea) and concentration (Nt ) of
levels in the transition layer on the SiO2-Si interface which
are created under RF plasma treatment at a specific power
of 1.5 W/cm2.
Nt × 109 (cm–2)
Treatment time (min) Ea (eV)
0 10 15 30
Plausible
nature
[47]
Ec – 0.013 0.90 0.45 – –
Ec – 0.032 9.5 1.2 – –
Ec – 0.040 – – – 1.2
Ec – 0.045 4.8 6.2 25.0 28.0 Si-H
local phonon
Ec – 0.062 – – – 9.0
Ev + 0.013 1.26 0.3 – –
Ev + 0.025 – – – 2.0
Ev + 0.032 5.2 4.2 – 5.0
Ev + 0.045 3.0 3.7 39.0 5.0 Si-OH
local phonon
Ev + 0.062 – – – 3.5
Ev + 0.071 – – – 3.2
It was shown in [62] that reactions (1) and (3) are
exothermic and have to be thermally activated. In the case
of atomic hydrogen, the reaction barrier for the passi-
vation reaction (1) is lower than that for the depassivation
reaction (3) [63]. The proposed concurrent process of
atomic hydrogen neutralization during its diffusion
through oxide [61] seems to be impossible in our case.
The atomic hydrogen accumulation at the
SiO2-Si interface during the plasma treatment of
Al-SiO2-Si structures in the nitrogen atmosphere has
been demonstrated in [44]. The effect of hydrogen on the
plasma annealing of SS has also been pointed in work
[64], in which the oxygen plasma has been used.
The thermally stimulated charge release (TSCR)
method applied to the Al-SiO2-Si structures at cryogenic
temperatures (from 4.2 to 20 K) allows the authors of
work [9] to analyze the interface transformation process
under the RF forming gas plasma treatment. The current
peaks observed by the TSCR technique at cryogenic
temperatures are related to the charge release from a
SiO2-Si transition layer with generation of local phonons
[65]. The number and amplitude of these peaks
characterize the number and magnitude of the strained
and dangling bonds in this region. In Table 1, the data on
the shallow levels in the SiO2-Si transition layer after the
RF plasma treatments of various durations are presented.
In 15 minutes after the RF action on the structure, only
two shallow levels with the energies Ec – 0.045 eV and
Ev + 0.045 eV are retained. So, the SiO2-Si interface has
an ordered structure with a small number of distortions.
The observed two levels have been presumably related
to Si-OH and Si-H bonds, respectively [66], which are
electrically neutral. Indeed, if we subtract the
concentration of the 0.045-eV levels from the total
concentration of shallow levels obtained by the TSCR
method, the obtained magnitude is fully correlated with
the total SS concentration measured by the quasistatic
C-V technique [67] (see Fig. 11). Thus, it can be sugges-
ted that the RF plasma treatment except for the surface
state passivation leads to the structural ordering of the
transition layer and the SiO2-Si interface.
The following results also provide the arguments
for this conclusion. The effect of γ -radiation on the RF-
plasma-treated Al-SiO2-Si and Al-polySi-SiO2-Si struc-
tures gives rise to the formation of a lower surface state
concentration than that in the untreated structures [68]. If
the RF plasma only passivates the surface states, the
following irradiation has to lead to a deterioration of the
radiation hardness of these structures [69]. Thus, the
employed regimes of RF plasma treatment result in the
ordering of SiO2-Si interfaces and not only in the
passivation but also in the annealing of SS.
4. RF plasma effect on the properties of SiO2
At the beginning of the 1970s, the researches of the low-
energy plasma-ion etching of metals or oxides in the
SiO2-Si structures showed [37] that ion-beam-assisted
plasma etching leads to considerable degradation
phenomena: an increase of the leakage current through
the dielectric; the building-up of a positive fixed charge
near the SiO2-Si interface; and the activation of charge
transport in the dielectric. However, the following
improvement of the equipment and the elaboration of
new technological regimes allow one to realize the
technologies of plasma treatment leading not only to a
simply annealed oxide charge [70] but also to a signi-
ficant improvement of the SiO2-Si properties, for instant:
a considerable reduction of the positive fixed charge in
the dielectric [2, 8, 57, 68]; a decrease of ion charge
transport in dioxide [71]; a better quality of the Si-
nanocrystals/SiO2 amorphous matrix interface [10, 11], a
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
107
Fig. 12. “Flat band” voltage (▲, ) and “mid-gap” voltage
(∆, o) as a function of the power density of RF plasma
treatment for the front side (∆, ▲) and the back side (o, ) of
a sample (t = 15 min, Theat = 230 °C).
Fig. 13. EPR spectra of D0- (g = 2.0055) and E'- (g = 2.0005)
centers measured on P+ ion-implanted SiO2-Si structures
(E = 120 keV; D = 1×1014 ions/cm2): a) after implantation;
b) after thermal annealing (T = 450 °C, t = 20 min); c) after
RF plasma treatment (P = 0.9 W/cm2, t = 15 min); d) after RF
plasma treatment (P = 2.2 W/cm2, t = 15 min) [20].
considerable decrease of the positive charge building-up
in oxide after the following irradiation [68], and an
increase of the lifetime of metal-oxide-silicon light-
emitting diodes (MOSLEDs) operating under high-field
electron injection [72, 73]. Let us consider consistently
these phenomena.
4.1. Charge annealing in gate oxide
RF plasma treatment of the Al-SiO2-Si structure from
the side of the aluminum gate (front side) results in a
reduction of the “flat-band” and “mid-gap” voltages in
its capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics (Fig. 12)
[68], that is directly related to the oxide charge [74]. The
gas composition in a plasma discharge does not affect
sufficiently the minimal magnitude of these parameters.
However, the hydrogen influence in the plasma
atmosphere during the RF plasma annealing on the oxide
charge in the Al-polySi-SiO2-Si structure is more signi-
ficant [68]. The important point is the existence of a
minimum in the positive charge dependence (as in the
case of SS) on the specific power of plasma discharge
for Al-SiO2-Si structures.
The decrease of the “flat-band” and “mid-gap”
voltages in a MIS capacitor can be associated with both
positive fixed charge decrease and a shift of mobile
positive charge ions in oxide towards the metallic
electrode [75]. The influence of the discharge atmosphere
on the final amount of the “flat-band” and “mid-gap”
voltages attests about the positive charge reduction in
oxide. In addition, this position is supported by EPR
measurements [20]. The minimal used intensity of RF
plasma treatment gives rise to the full neutralization of E'-
centers in the thermal oxide of the phosphorus-implanted
SiO2-Si structure (Fig. 13). At the same time, the thermal
annealing in nitrogen at 450 °C does not lead to the full
annealing of these centers. It is worth noting that E'-
centers have been identified as positively charged relaxed
oxygen vacancies in SiO2 [76, 77]. In addition, the E'-
center concentration and localization have a good
correlation with the magnitude and the localization of the
fixed positive charge in the irradiated thermal oxide [78].
Thus, the RF plasma treatment can indeed anneal or
passivate (neutralize) the positive charge in oxide.
4.2. RF plasma effect on moving charges in SiO2
When a sufficient concentration of mobile positive ions
(such as Na+ or K+) is located in oxide of the SiO2-Si
structure, the RF plasma treatment leads to a shift of ions
towards the treated surface. The results of investigations
of the thermally stimulated polarization joined with the
C-V technique performed on the Al-polySi-SiO2-Si
structures attest this conclusion [71]. Indeed, it was
shown that the RF plasma treatment of the structures
from the side of the aluminum electrode (front side)
reduces significantly the “flat-band” voltage of MIS
capacitors. However, the following heating of a structure
up to 400 °C with a positive bias applied to the metal
electrode restores its initial magnitude.
This idea is also supported by C-V measurements of
MIS structures treated by RF plasma from the front side
and the back side (silicon substrate) (Fig. 12). One can see
that RF plasma treatment of the front side of a structure
results in a decrease of the “flat-band” voltage, and the
same treatment from the back side causes an increase of
this amount. The presented results can be explained by the
negative charging of the treated surface of a sample
relative to the surface located on the RF electrode. In
addition, at the used treatment regimes, the sample is
heated up to 300 °C (see Fig. 5). Thus, such joint effect of
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the electric field and the temperature has to result in a shift
of positively charged ions towards the treated surface.
In the case of Al-SiO2-Si structures, such a treat-
ment of the front side led to the Na+ ion getting by the
Al-SiO2 transition layer [71] that increased considerably
the high-temperature bias-temperature stability of the
structures.
4.3. Neutralization of a positive charge in the buried
oxide
Since a lot of various types of microelectronic devices
and integrated circuits (ICs) is fabricated on SOI wafers
at the present time [79], the study of the charge trapping
in different parts of this system and the development of
methods of neutralization or annealing of this trapped
charge are the very important tasks. Especially, it is
difficult to anneal the charge accumulated in BOX
during the device operation because of the necessity to
treat a totally fabricated device or IC. The RF hydrogen
plasma treatment is very attractive in this case. The po-
sitive charge accumulation in the BOX of SOI n-channel
MOSFET results in both the generation of a parasitic
back channel in the partially depleted devices and a shift
of the threshold voltage towards positive gate voltages in
a fully depleted SOI MOSFET [80].
Fig. 14. Percentage of annealed charge in the BOX of
UNIBOND and SIMOX SOI structures as a function of the
annealing temperature (a) and a function of the RF plasma
power (b) for different injecting electric fields [41].
In works [41, 81], it was shown that the high-field
electron injection in the BOX of SOI structures fabricated
both by the single implanted (SI) SIMOX and UNIBOND
technologies generates a positive charge in the dielectric
located mainly near the BOX/substrate interface. In case
of the SI SIMOX SOI structure, only 30 % of the
generated positive charge can be thermally annealed at
400 °C for 15 min (Fig. 14a). An increase of the injecting
electric field reinforces the thermal stability of a generated
positive charge, which is the evidence for a more
complicated structure of the defects generated at the high-
field electron injection. Using the RF forming gas plasma
treatment resulted in the 90-% annealing of this positive
charge at 1.6 W/cm2 (Fig. 14b). At this power density, the
SOI wafer was heated only up to 350 °C (see Fig. 5),
which evidences the strong nonthermal processes
appearing during the RF plasma treatment. It was
suggested both the hydrogen-enhanced [41] and recom-
bination-enhanced [82] processes of annealing of defects
take place in the above-mentioned case.
4.4. Effect of RF plasma treatment
on nanostructured oxide
The effective RF hydrogen plasma annealing of SS on the
SiO2-Si interface [9] assumes a possibility to employ the
RF plasma treatment in order to increase the luminescence
and to control the size of Si nanocrystals embedded into
the dioxide matrix. Since the RF plasma treatment is a
low-temperature process and decreases strongly both the
defect concentration inside the amorphous oxide matrix
and the SS concentration on the interfaces, but does not
affect the size or properties of nanoinclusions, the use of
such a treatment allows us to distinguish luminescent
mechanisms related to the light emission of nanocrystals
contained in the amorphous matrix (the exciton lumi-
nescence from nanocrystals [83] or the radiative recom-
bination via defects in silicon oxide surrounding Si nano-
crystals or at the interface [84]).
It was demonstrated in [11] that the RF forming gas
plasma treatment allows one to induce a photolumi-
nescence (PL) from Si nanocrystals embedded into the
SiO2 matrix without shifting the PL intensity maximum
position (Fig. 15). It should be noted that the enhancement
of the PL intensity in case of the RF plasma treatment
exceeded considerably the influence of thermal annealing
in the hydrogen atmosphere at 500 °C [11], and the
maximal enhancement of the intensity for the plasma
treatment reached up to the 30-fold value. The tempe-
rature held under the generation of Si nanocrystals was
950 °C, and their size was estimated as 4.3 nm [85]. In
case of the creation of Si nanocrystals in dioxide by the
Si+ ion implantation and the high-temperature annealing at
1200 °C for 15 min, the effect of the RF plasma treatment
on the PL intensity related to the exciton recombination in
the nanocrystals was sufficiently visible (more than 3-fold
enhancement) [10] and exceeded that under the thermal
annealing in a forming gas at 450 °C [86] but was not
such significant as in the above-mentioned case. At the
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Fig. 15. PL spectra of normally deposited samples annealed at
950 ºC and treated with RF plasma for various times: non-
treated (curve 1), treated for 5 (2), 10 (3), 15 (4), and 20 min
(5). Insert: the PL peak intensity versus the plasma treatment
time [11].
same time, no increase of the PL intensity for amorphous
Si inclusions that was obtained by the 700 ºC-annealing of
a SiOx film deposited on a Si wafer by thermal eva-
poration of SiO in vacuum was observed [11]. The
obtained results can be interpreted in the frame of the
model of radiation ordering of the SiO2-Si interface [87]
surrounding a Si nanocrystal with participation of atomic
hydrogen and defect recharging that appears during the
RF plasma treatment. An increase of the thermal
annealing temperature improves a quality of the Si nano-
crystal/SiO2 matrix interface. Probably, the Si amorphous
nanoinclusions don’t have a lot of broken bonds on the
interface with the amorphous matrix.
The phenomenon of increasing the quality of the
nanocrystal/amorphous matrix interface after the RF
hydrogen plasma treatment is observed not only for the
Si nanocrystals/SiO2 amorphous matrix system and for
other crystalline semiconductor nanodots/amorphous
glasses ones. For example, glasses doped by CdSSe
nanocrystals with sizes from 2.65 to 7.80 nm shows an
increase of the exciton PL from the nanocrystals after
the RF plasma treatment even for thick samples with
thickness more 1 mm [88]. Thus, it is possible to con-
clude that the proposed plasma treatment can be effec-
tively employed for increasing the quality and the
annealing of dangling Si bonds in crystalline semicon-
ductor nanodot/amorphous matrix interfaces.
4.5. RF plasma effect on light-emitting SiO2 layers
implanted with impurities of the IV group
The development of Si-based light-emitting devices has
recently gained in importance due to the need for efficient
and inexpensive light sources, whose production is fully
compatible with the existing silicon device technology.
An improved version of MOS-based light-emitting
devices (MOSLED) consists of a silicon substrate having
a few hundred nm-thick layer of thermally grown SiO2,
which is then ion-implanted with Ge and heat-treated by
rapid thermal annealing (RTA) [89]. This MOSLED
typically uses transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) on the
top of a SiO2 layer, and an Al layer on the back of the Si
substrate as the current injecting electrodes. An important
feature of a Ge ion-implanted and RTA-treated MOSLED
is its ability to emit violet light (at the wavelength λ =
390 nm) of appreciably high intensities [89].
Critical issues of the MOSLED performance are the
device durability in terms of the device operating lifetime
which has to be improved and the strong-field injection-
associated oxide degradation which has to be prevented or
at least retarded [90, 91]. To increase the operation
duration of the MOSLEDs, it was suggested to use the RF
hydrogen plasma treatment [72, 73, 92]. It should be
noted that mechanisms of violet electroluminescence (EL)
is the impact ionization of neutral oxygen-deficient
centers (ODC), in one of which the oxygen atoms of the
original Si-O-Si bonding configuration are removed
allowing the Si atoms to be subsequently replaced by
added Ge atoms to form Si-Ge and Ge-Ge bonds [89]. In
this connection, the optimal regimes of the RF plasma
treatment of totally fabricated MOSLED were found,
which resulted in ordering the SiO2 matrix without
annealing the defect-involved luminescent centers (LCs).
The plasma treatment allowed one to extend the maximal
explotable current density by more than a factor of 10,
which resulted in a considerable increase of the maximal
EL intensity (Fig. 16) and an increase of the durability of
MOSLEDs by more than a factor of four (Fig. 17).
In case of the combined implantation by Si+ and C+
ions in order to form SiC nanoclusters in dioxide, the
plasma treatment on the last stage of the MOSLED
fabrication resulted in a reduction of the EL intensity in
the wavelength range from 400 to 650 nm that attested
the defect nature of the observed LCs (Fig. 18) [93]. At
the same time, the durability of MOSLEDs increased by
more than factor five (Fig. 19), which evidences the
improvement of the SiO2 matrix quality. Thus, the RF
plasma treatment except for the positive charge neutra-
lization in thin SiO2 layers leads in some regimes to the
annealing of structural defects in the SiO2 matrix and so
to ordering the amorphous network in SiO2.
Fig. 16. Variation of the maximal EL intensity with current
density measured at a wavelength of 390 nm before and after
plasma treatment for electrons injected from Si substrate. Inset:
EL specta of Ge-implanted SiO2 before and after plasma
treatment [72].
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Fig. 17. EL intensity measured at a wavelength of 390 nm and
a constant current voltage as a function of the electron-injected
charge before and after plasma treatment for a current density
of 2×10–5 A/cm2 (plasma power density – 0.7 W/cm2, addi-
tional heating – 200 ºC) [72].
Fig. 18. EL spectra of the samples implanted by Si+ + C+ ions
before and after hydrogen plasma treatment during 15 min [93].
Fig. 19. EL intensity at a wavelength of 500 nm as a function
of the electron-injected charge after hydrogen plasma treatment
of SiO2 coimplanted with Si+ and C+ [93].
4.6. Ordering the SiO2 network structure and models of
ordering
Except for the above-presented examples of the
increase of the operation stability of a gate and buried
oxides and oxides employed as a light-emitting
material, the following effects strongly support the
assumption that the RF plasma treatment promotes the
creation of an amorphous matrix with minimal
structural defect concentration and maximal binding
energy. Indeed, using the plasma-chemical deposition
technique and the following RF plasma treatment in the
oxygen atmosphere, dense silicon dioxide with
structural and electrical parameters similar to those of
thermally grown oxide can be fabricated at low
temperatures (up to 400 °C) [94].
The treatment of Al-SiO2-Si structures which
do not maintain a mobile positive charge in SiO2 results
in the electron trap annealing [95]. A part of these traps
(with capture cross-sections of 3.3×10–16, 3.5×10–15, and
2.6×10–14 cm2) was produced by electron beam irra-
diation, and some ones were initially located in oxide.
The research has been performed by the avalanche
injection of electrons into SiO2. After the RF plasma
impact, the electron trapping in SiO2 considerably
decreases. In work [68], it was also shown that, after the
RF plasma treatment, the following γ -irradiation has
been built up a considerably smaller positive charge into
SiO2 than into the initial structure (Fig. 20). In the case
of hydrogen neutralization, the contrary result has to be
appeared [96].
The ordering effect can be explained by following
alternative models. The first one [18, 19] takes the
process of electron and hole injection into a dielectric
during the RF treatment into account. Due to such an
injection, the enhanced recombination of electron-hole
pairs on the oxide network defects and the energy
extraction in these local places can take place. Thus, this
model uses the mechanism of recombination-enhanced
defect reactions depicted in works [82, 97].
Fig. 20. “Mid-gap” voltage shifting as a function of the oxide
thickness for the Al-polySi-SiO2-Si structures subjected to γ-
irradiation (D = 5×105 rad(Si), Eox = 1×105 V/cm) [68].
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The second model [68] considers both the charge
carrier trapping in strained bonds in SiO2 and the
hydrogen effect on the relaxation processes of inner
stresses in the SiO2 amorphous network [96]. It was
suggested that hydrogen extracting in SiO2 in the atomic
form during the RF plasma treatment, together with a
hole or without it, is trapped in strained Si-O-Si bonds
and broke up these bonds to form both Si-H and Si-OH
bonds. In addition, hydrogen also passivates O3 ≡ Si- and
O3 ≡ Si-O- dangling bonds. These processes give rise to
the dioxide amorphous network relaxation to a structure
with minimal potential energy. On this step, the process
is not yet finished. The following electron trapping in Si-
H and Si-O-H bonds results in the hydrogen release from
the bonds [98], and, after the hole trapping, the
production of unstressed Si-O-Si bonds is finished.
Thus, in the last model, hydrogen plays role of a
“mediator” leading to the mechanical stress relaxation in
SiO2.
It should be noted that the UV irradiation itself is
also capable for a transformation of the defected oxide
network structure [87]. The nature of this effect is not
yet understandable now; however, this phenomenon has
to be taken into account in the RF plasma annealing
analysis.
5. Plasma annealing of the ion-implanted subsurface
silicon layer
5.1. Plasma influence on defects in the subsurface
silicon layer
It was revealed that the RF plasma treatment of Al-SiO2-
Si structures with hydrogen or nitrogen plasma gives rise
to the atomic hydrogen saturation of the subsurface
silicon layer [20, 30, 44, 99]. The processes of inter-
action of hydrogen with defects in semiconductors and
semiconductor structures can be divided into two main
types.
The first one includes the processes of trans-
formation of the electrical activity during the direct
chemical binding of hydrogen with the defect. The
following phenomena can be related to such a kind of
processes: 1) hydrogen shallow doping impurity neutra-
lization [26]; 2) full neutralization of radiation defects
and impurities creating the deep levels in the forbidden
silicon gap [23]; 3) partial neutralization or even elec-
trical activation of various defects and impurities in
semiconductors [26, 100]; 4) hydrogen neutralization of
dangling bonds in a-Si:H [101]. A specific peculiarity of
these processes is the restoration of a defect electrical
activity after the high-temperature vacuum annealing,
which leads to the breaking-up of the hydrogen-defect
chemical bonds and the restoration of the initial structure
of a defect.
The second type of the processes includes those, in
which hydrogen takes part as a catalyst during the reac-
tion. That is, hydrogen promotes the defect transfor-
mation reaction. After finishing the reaction, it leaves a
place of the reaction, but the defect structure is changed.
To such phenomena, we can relate: 1) suppressing the
swirl defect creation under silicon growth in the
hydrogen ambient [102]; 2) hydrogen-enhanced thermal
donor creation in the hydrogen atmosphere or under
hydrogen plasma treatment [103, 104]; 3) enhanced
annealing of radiation defects in hydrogenated
crystalline silicon [105] and under RF plasma treatment
[14]; 4) enhanced dopant activation under RF plasma
effect [15] or additional hydrogen implantation with
following thermal annealing [106, 107]. A specific
peculiarity of these phenomena is the lack of the
restoration of defect properties after the following
thermal annealing.
Let us consider the first group of the processes.
These processes have been widely outlined [22-27, 30],
and we will touch them only shortly.
5.2. Hydrogen neutralization of electrical active defects
and impurities in silicon.
For the first time, the deep level neutralization by
hydrogen plasma was revealed in work [13], where it was
shown that deep levels produced in silicon by laser
irradiation are more effectively neutralized by hydrogen
plasma than by the thermal annealing in molecular
hydrogen. The following thermal annealing in vacuum at
400 °C restores the deep level spectrum.
Soon after this work, the wide research of the
hydrogen neutralization of the electrically activity of
radiation defects [108], thermal donors [21], and
different fast diffusing impurities [109] in silicon was
performed. In addition, it was revealed that acceptor
[110] and then donor [111] dopants can be also
neutralized by atomic hydrogen. In all the above-
mentioned cases, the defect and dopant neutralization
was carried out at lower temperatures in atomic
hydrogen, than in molecular one; and the restoration of
the electrical activity can be observed after the following
thermal annealing in vacuum. The performed research
has shown that hydrogen can neutralize as donor as
acceptor defects and dopants. Thus, hydrogen is an
amphoteric impurity in silicon which can have various
charges in dependence on the type of silicon con-
ductivity [112].
In the case of the multivalent impurities, hydrogen
can partially neutralize them, by decreasing the impurity
charge state. For instance, for a double acceptor,
hydrogen traps one electron on its donor level, by
leaving one level in the forbidden gap. Usually, this
level is shallower than the previously observed ones
[26]. The example of such acceptor dopant in Si is Be.
Hydrogen ion implantation in silicon leads to the
creation of a considerable number of narrow absorption
lines in the transmission IR spectra in the optical range
from 2300 to 1800 cm–1 [113]. Most of these peaks have
been annealed at 300 °C. Only three lines (2210, 2167,
and 1961 cm–1) have been not annealed at 400 °C. The
same lines were also appeared in silicon grown by zone
melting in the hydrogen ambient [23]. It was suggested
[114] that the intensive thermally stabile IR lines at 2210
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and 1961 cm–1 are associated with: i) silicon located in
the Ta interstitial position and bound with four hydrogen
atoms and ii) split interstitial bound with two hydrogen
atoms, respectively. Thus, more thermally stabile hydro-
gen defects can be related to silicon interstitials.
In monocrystalline silicon saturated by hydrogen
[113] and in implanted silicon treated by hydrogen
plasma [115], Si-H and Si=H2 bonds have been
observed. These bonds can be linked as with fully
hydrogenated vacancy defects (such as VH4 or V2H6) as
with partially dissociated ones. For instance, a partially
dissociated divacancy possesses a silicon atom bound
with two hydrogen atoms (=Si=H2). Performing the ab
initio density-functional calculations, it was theoretically
shown that the even ≡Si=H2 metastabile configuration
which has a local minimum on the energy surface can
exist in crystalline silicon [116].
To find out the nature of the hydrogen passivation
of different defects and impurities and their structure, a
lot of quantum-mechanical calculations have been
performed for different defect configurations [117-123].
It was demonstrated [117] that the hydrogen saturation
of a vacancy or divacancy results in the defect level shift
from the forbidden bond towards the valence zone and
makes its to be electrically inactive. The hydrogen
saturation of a vacancy-oxygen defect (A-center) in sili-
con leads to the creation of a shallower level in the
silicon forbidden gap [118].
5.3. RF plasma annealing of implanted defects in silicon
On the basis of IR researches of a hydrogen effect on the
radiation defect neutralization, it was suggested [113]
that a divacancy decreases its dissociation energy by
atomic hydrogen binding. This is caused by that, for the
hydrogenated vacancy, the partially dissociated configu-
ration is more energy-profitable, i.e.,
V2H6 + 2H → V2H8* + (2 × 3 –1.3 = 4.7 eV) . (4)
That is an exothermic reaction. In expression (4), it
is taken into account that, during the Si-H bond creation,
the energy of 3 eV is released, and the partial vacancy
dissociation requires 1.3 eV. In such a manner, hydrogen
can decrease the annealing temperature of this defect. It
was one from the first explanations of the hydrogen-
enhanced annealing of vacancy defects in silicon.
To determine the origin of the RF plasma annealing
of radiation defects in the subsurface silicon layer, the
number of investigations of implanted SiO2-Si structures
treated by RF plasma has been performed [20, 28, 57,
124, 125]. The ion implantations by different ions and at
various doses have been employed with the control of
the surface layer damage, by using a large number of
research methods.
Radiation defects in subsurface p- and n-type sili-
con layers have been produced by boron [57], phos-
phorous [20], and arsenic [125] ion implantations
through the SiO2 layer. In the case of the boron ion
implantation, point defects are preferably produced,
while, under the phosphorus and arsenic ion implan-
tations, the disordered regions which have presumably
the vacancy origin are created [126].
For the study of deep levels in the subsurface
silicon layer of SiO2-Si structures, the thermally
stimulated charge release (TSCR) method [127] was
explored. This method is very useful for the study of
electrically active centers in strongly damaged semicon-
ductor layers of metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS)
structures. The performed researches for all kinds of the
implanted structure (with doses near 1×1012 ions/cm2)
after the RF plasma treatment revealed a decrease of the
deep level concentration related to ion implanted defects
by more than two orders of magnitude [28]. The
example of such results is depicted in Fig. 21.
In work [20], it was observed that the RF plasma
treatment from the front side of a structure was
considerably more efficient than that from the back side
(Figs. 21 and 22). The control experiments showed [44]
that atomic hydrogen under the treatment from the back
side of a structure was not observed in the subsurface
silicon layer. The optimal regime of the plasma treatment
corresponded to the thermal annealing in the nitrogen
atmosphere at 750 °C (Fig. 22), therefore the annealing
temperature at the RF plasma effect falls in by a factor of
almost two. The following thermal annealing in vacuum
at the temperature range from 300 to 500 °C gave no
significant restoration of the majority of deep levels that
testifies to the actual annealing during such plasma
treatment but not to the neutralization.
Fig. 21. TSCR spectra obtained on Al-SiO2-nSi structures after the
P+ ion implantation (D = 1.5×1012 ions/cm2), treated with RF
plasma discharge from front side (a) and back side (b) at various
values of the treatment power density: P = 0.7 (1); 0.9 (2); 1.6 (3);
2.2 W/cm2 (4). The time of treatments is 15 min [28].
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Fig. 22. Total concentration of deep levels, NΣ, in the upper
half of the Si band gap of implanted (P+, D =1.5×1012ions/cm2)
SiO2-Si structures for various treatments as a function of the
RF plasma power density and the annealing temperature (t =
15 min) [28].
It should be noted that the main deep levels
observed by the TSCR technique (Fig. 21) can be
associated with vacancy defects in silicon. For instance,
the Ec – 0.18 eV level is a vacancy-oxygen complex (A-
center), the Ec – 0.21 eV and the Ec – 0.38 eV levels are
the divacancies in variuos charge states [128]. The Ec –
0.44 eV level was presumably related to a divacancy
complex [128, 129]. Indeed, this level has a good
correlation with an EPR D0-center observed in such
structures [20]. The D0-center is well-known and is
associated with a dangling Si-bond in amorphous silicon,
so it can be related to large divacancy complexes which
have to be produced during the ion implantation with
heavy ions such as phosphorus and arsenic. Thus, we
can conclude that most defects that can enhance the
annealing under RF plasma treatment and are observed
after the ion implantation, have the vacancy origin.
Fig. 23. Channeling RBS spectra of 120-keV P+ implanted
(D = 1·1014 ions/cm2) MOS structures after the thermal
annealing and RF plasma treatment and the removal of Al and
SiO2 layers. Solid curve – only implanted, dotted curve – im-
planted and thermal annealed at 450 °C, dashed curve –
plasma-treated structures at the 2.2-W/cm2 power density
[124].
The Rutherford backscattering (RBS) method in the
channeling regime provided a direct evidence for the
subsurface defect silicon layer ordering after the RF
plasma treatment [124]. For this goal, the SiO2-Si
structures have been implanted with phosphorus ions
(implanted dose was 1×1014 ions/cm2) that gave rise to a
strongly damaged subsurface silicon layer. Then the
structures were subjected to either the RF plasma
treatment in the optimal regime or the thermal annealing
of the same duration (for comparison). It was revealed
that the RF plasma treatment orders more effectively the
subsurface layer than the thermal annealing at 450 °C
(Fig. 23). In addition, the RF plasma effect decreases
more effectively the paramagnetic D0-centers in
comparison with the thermal annealing at 450 °C
(Fig. 11), which suggests the enhanced plasma annealing
of large damaged regions.
5.4. RF plasma enhanced activation in the ion implanted
silicon layer
In work [20] together with researches of defects in SiO2-
Si structures, the study of the implanted dopant
activation after the RF plasma effect has been
performed. For this goal, the capacitance-voltage (C-V)
free carrier profiling [129] and the low-temperature
(4.2 K) photoluminescence (PL) of bound excitons [130]
were used. The C-V profiling showed the enhanced
appearance of the electrical activity of dopants under the
low-power RF plasma treatment (Fig. 24a). A distinctive
peculiarity of this treatment was the appearance of free
carrier profiles at first in the thin surface silicon layer
and its distribution into silicon when the RF power was
increased, that was quite different from the case of the
Fig. 24. Distribution of free carrier concentration, nfc, in the
silicon subsurface region in the implanted structures (P+,
D = 1.5×1012 ions/cm2) treated with RF plasma discharge
from the front side (a) of the Al-SiO2-Si structure at various
power densities: P = 0.7 (1); 0.9 (2); 1.6 (3); 2.2 W/cm2 (4);
and subjected to the thermal annealing (b) at various tempe-
ratures: Ta = 550 (1); 600 (2); 700 (3); 800°C (4) (t = 15 min)
[20].
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© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
114
thermal annealing, for which the dopant profile was
appeared in the whole implanted subsurface layer
(Fig. 24b). The integral free carrier concentrations vs.
both the RF power and the annealing temperature for
these structures are shown in Fig. 25. The integral
dopant activation by 1 W/cm2 RF plasma is similar to
that under the thermal annealing at 650 °C.
Fig. 25. Integral free carrier concentrations in the silicon
subsurface layer in implanted SiO2-Si structures (P+,
D =1.5·1012 ions/cm2) as a function of the RF power density
and the annealing temperature (t = 15 min) [20].
Fig. 26. PL spectra (Tm = 4.2 K) of bound exciton complexes
in boron-doped and phosphorus-implanted Si: (a) after RF
plasma treatment at various power densities P =1.0 (1); 1.3 (2);
1.6 (3); 2.0 (4); 2.3 W/cm2 (5); (b) without annealing (1); after
thermal annealing at various temperatures Ta = 300 (2);
550 (3); 650 (4); 950 °C (5). Treatment time is 15 min [131].
The results of the C-V profiling strongly depend on
the concentration of defects compensating the dopant
electrical activity. The concentration of these defects can
fall considerably after the plasma treatment (as it was
outlined in the previous part of this review). To find out
explicitly whether there is the enhanced activation of an
implanted dopant (in our case, phosphorus) during the
plasma treatment, the technique based on the PL of
bound excitons was applied to these samples [15, 131]
(see Fig. 26). For obtaining the useful information from
the PL spectra, the signal intensity of excitons related to
phosphorus was normalized by the signal intensity of
excitons related to free boron in a silicon wafer. Because
of the hydrogen passivation of the boron dopant was not
observed under the used plasma treatment, the boron
concentration in the wafer can serve as the concentration
standard during treatments. As seen from Fig. 27, the
extent of phosphorus activation after the plasma
treatment can cover up to 75 % of the implanted phos-
phorus. However, the compensated defects existing in
the implanted silicon layer do not allow one to reveal the
total dopant concentration by the C-V profiling expe-
riments. Studying the PL of bound excitons for the
samples treated by RF plasma from the front and back
sides confirms the influence of nonthermal factors on the
dopant activation [15].
The following experiments, using the combined
treatments of As+ ion implanted SiO2-Si structures,
support the idea of the additional compensation defect
annealing to reveal the total dopant activation after a
plasma treatment [125]. The thermal annealing in the
nitrogen atmosphere or the flash lamp annealing by
using a halogen lamp with the following treatment in RF
plasma gave rise to excellent activation results. Post
metallization annealing with the following plasma
treatment allowed one to activate near 75 % of the
implanted dopant that can be measured by the C-V pro-
filing method.
Fig. 27. Normalized intensity ratios, R, for boron-bound and
phosphorus-bound excitons in boron-doped and phosphorus-
implanted Si vs. the discharge power density and the annealing
temperature [131].
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
© 2008, V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
115
5.5. A model of enhanced hydrogen annealing of
vacancy defects in silicon
The analysis of the mutually supplementary experiments
allows us to conclude that the RF plasma treatment results
in both the enhanced annealing of radiation defects, most
of which has the vacancy origin, and the enhanced
activation of implanted dopants. On the basis of the
obtained results in works [20, 28], a model of enhanced
atomic hydrogen annealing of vacancy defects has been
proposed. In this model, hydrogen plays the role of a
catalyst of the defect reaction. In works [132-135], this
model was supported by quantum-mechanical calculations
and extended to the dopant activation process. The
calculations have been performed on the basis of the SCF
MO LCAO technique in the NDDO valence approach.
The model is determined by the following main
positions: i) the trapping of a hydrogen atom by the
vacancy leads to the substantial relaxation of the
crystalline lattice near the vacancy, which results in an
essential expansion of the inner vacancy region (see, for
example, Fig. 28a, b); ii) the enlargement of the inner
vacancy region reduces the potential barrier for a silicon
interstitial or for a dopant impurity being built into the
vacancy lattice site; iii) a silicon atom or an impurity are
incorporated into the vacancy lattice site with the breaking
of the Si-H bonds and the release of hydrogen (Fig. 28c).
Experimental data evidencing the substantial
relaxation of the damaged silicon lattice and the
amorphous silicon phase after the RF plasma treatment
and after the hydrogen low-energetic ion bombardment
have been obtained by the Raman scattering technique
[16, 17] and by X-ray triple crystal diffractometry [136].
The theoretical evidence for this fact was first presented
in work [137], and the extended calculations taking
various hydrogen locations and vacancy charges into
account have been presented in paper [132]. Some
results of these calculations are shown in Table 2. As
seen, the size of a vacancy after hydrogenation is
considerably extended even more than that in the case of
the ideal silicon lattice. In addition, in the case of a
hydrogenated vacancy, the energy barrier height for the
silicon interstitial incorporation into a vacant site
essentially decreases (Fig. 29). A similar decrease is also
observed for B, P, and As impurities (Table 3) [134].
The average decrease of the energy barrier is determined
by a factor of 1.5 and depends on the vacancy charge
and the interstitial diffusion direction. The estimation of
the activation temperature decrease for the main
implanted impurities demonstrates the temperature profit
near 300 °C [134], which is in a good agreement with
the experimental results obtained on the samples treated
by RF plasma [20] and on the samples subjected to the
combined hydrogen and arsenic implantation [106].
The energy balance for the reaction of impurity
incorporation (phosphorus, for example) into a vacant
site of the hydrogenated vacancy has been shown to be
positive, i.e., the reaction such as
Si-H + Pi → Si-P + H [(19.8 – 4.5)/4] = 3.83 eV (5)
is exothermic [106]. Thus, one can expect the hydrogen
separation from Si-H-P bond in the reaction region with
the following trapping it by neighboring dangling bonds
or the creation of interstitial molecules H2 [138] or H2*
[139]. If the defect is a complicated vacancy complex,
the annealing of such a defect has to be carried out on
the defect periphery, where hydrogen is located and the
stresses are relaxed. Then the impurity incorporation will
go to the center of a defect gradually abolishing it.
Table 2. Energy barrier heights for the diffusion of
interstitial silicon atoms (∆E) and displacements of the four
atoms surrounding a vacancy (∆R).
Path of a Si
atom
∆E〈111〉
(eV)
∆E〈100〉
(eV)
∆E〈110〉
(eV)
∆R
(Å)
Leaves a site
without H
27.7 30.3 31.2 0
Enter a vacancy
without H
9.2 11.7 12.4 –0.15
Enter a vacancy
with H0
5.6 (6.2) 8.6 (9.1) 9.4 (9.9) 0.21
(0.20)
Enter a vacancy
with H+
5.1 8.9 8.9 0.25
(The figures in parentheses are calculated for hydrogen located
inside the vacancy.)
Table 3. Potential barrier heights (eV) for the incor-
poration of different dopants into a vacancy site for
hydrogen localized outside and inside (in parentheses) the
vacancy.
B P As
State
of
vacancy 〈1
11
〉
〈1
00
〉
〈1
10
〉
〈1
11
〉
〈1
00
〉
〈1
10
〉
〈1
11
〉
〈1
00
〉
〈1
10
〉
V 6.3 7.6 8.5 7.2 8.6 9.5 8.8 11.1 12.1
VH4
0
3.7
(4.4)
5.0
(5.6)
5.8
(6.4)
4.5
(5.1)
6.2
(6.9)
6.9
(7.4)
5.4
(5.9)
7.3
(8.0)
8.1
(8.6)
VH4
+ 3.3 4.4 5.1 4.1 5.6 5.9 4.8 7.3 7.7
b)
Si
Si
Si
Si
Si d
a)
Si
Si
Si
Si
Si d
c)
Si d
Si Si
Si
Si
H
H
H
H
d)
Si
Si
Si
Si
Si d
H
H
H
H
Fig. 28. Schematical illustration of the model of enhanced
annihilation of Frenkel pairs with participation of atomic
hydrogen: (a) ideal Si crystal; (b) interstitial Si moves towards
a nonhydrogenated vacancy; (c) interstitial Si moves towards a
hydrogenated vacancy; (d) hydrogen migrates towards other
vacancies [132].
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
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116
Fig. 29. Potential barriers for an impurity atom entering the
vacancy region and exiting from the crystal site [133].
Thus, the proposed mechanism does not need a
large amount of atomic hydrogen and can explain the
enhanced annealing of a lot of vacancy defects and the
enhanced activation of implanted dopants in silicon.
6. RF plasma ordering of amorphous silicon layer
Whereas the hydrogen plasma treatment in the case of a
strongly disordered ion implanted silicon layer leads to
the enhanced radiation defect annealing, no enhanced
recrystallization is revealed in the case of the ion-
implanted amorphized silicon layer. In work [124], the
RBS study of amorphous subsurface silicon layers
fabricated by the phosphorus ion implantation (dose was
1×1015 ions/cm2) has been performed. The total recrys-
tallization of the amorphous layer after the thermal
annealing at 550 °C and its absence after the RF plasma
treatment with maximum power have been demon-
strated.
To find out the structure of the subsurface silicon
layer under such treatments, the Raman scattering
technique has been employed [140]. The Raman
spectrum of the implanted silicon is mainly determined
by the amorphous phase with a small amount of
microcrystalline inclusions (see Fig. 30). The RF plasma
treatment results in an increase of the microcrystalline
dimensions and a decrease of the root-mean-square
bond-angle fluctuation, θ∆ , in the amorphous part. The
estimations have shown that, after phosphorus implan-
tation, the dimensions of microcrystalline inclusions in
the amorphous phase is 35 Å; after the thermal annealing
at 500 °C, they do not exceed 65 Å; while, after the RF
plasma treatment (power is 2.0 W/cm2), the dimensions
of microcrystalline inclusions increase up to 90 Å.
In Fig. 31, θ∆ as a function of the thermal
annealing temperature and the specific power of RF
plasma are presented. The parameter, θ∆ , is determined
by structural peculiarities of the amorphous phase, and
the structure of amorphous silicon is stable if θ∆ > 6.6°,
while the structures with intermediate values
( )o6.60 <θ∆< do not exist [140]. During a thermal
annealing of the implanted silicon, θ∆ changes from
13.5° to 0° in the narrow temperature interval from 500
to 525 °C. During the RF plasma treatment, the full
relaxation of the Si amorphous structure is observed.
In work [20], the Raman study of an amorphous
silicon layer has been performed together with EPR
measurements. The full correlation of D0-EPR center
concentration dependences as a function of the RF
plasma specific power and the thermal annealing
temperature with the same dependences of θ∆ has been
observed (Fig. 31 a, b, c, d). From these results, it be-
comes clear that a sharp decrease of the D0-center
concentration at temperatures above 500 °C related to
the amorphous layer recrystallization and the relaxation
of mechanical stresses in the amorphous layer under the
RF plasma treatment is associated with a decrease of the
number of dangling bonds in the amorphous Si phase. In
work [20], it was suggested that the last effect is related
to the hydrogenation of the amorphous layer and the
creation of Si-H bonds, which leads to a decrease of the
paramagnetic activity of defects in this layer and to the
amorphous Si network relaxation.
Fig. 30. Raman spectra of Si implanted with P+ ions
(D = 1×1015 ions/cm2) and subjected (a) to the treatment
with thermal annealing at various temperatures (initial
unimplanted sample (1), 350 °C (2), 450 (3), 525 (4) and
950 (5)) and (b) different RF plasma power densities
(initial implanted sample (1), 0.5 W/cm2 (2), 0.9 (3), 1.2
(4), 2.0 (5)) [16].
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics, 2008. V. 11, N 2. P. 101-123.
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117
Fig. 31. The change in θ∆ (a, b) and in the D0-center concentration (c, d) in P+ implanted (D = 1×10
15
ions/cm
2
) Si subjected to
the thermal annealing (a, c) and treated with a RF plasma discharge (b, d) and [16].
7. Conclusions
The combination of the hydrogenation of a material with
an intensive defect overcharging and the enhanced
temperature (factors that exist at the RF plasma effect)
leads to the effective transformation of the silicon
dioxide structure, dielectric-semiconductor interface, and
subsurface disturbed semiconductor layer. In this
connection, the hydrogen plasma treatment can be
successfully employed on the final step of the fabrication
of silicon thin-film CMOS devices instead of the
traditional post metallization annealing or the rapid
thermal annealing.
One of the important consequences of the hydrogen
plasma treatment is the relaxation of a disordering and
the amorphous structure of semiconductor and dielectric
materials. Taking this phenomenon into account allows
one in a lot of cases to understand the processes running
in semiconductors under plasma treatment or under
hydrogenation. For example, the enhanced radiation
hardness of hydrogenated silicon [141, 142] can be
explained by an increase of the silicon interstitial
trapping by hydrogenated vacancies during the creation
of Frenkel pairs; the enhanced thermal donor creation
after the hydrogen plasma treatment of silicon can be
associated with the easier oxygen incorporation in
vacant sites in a hydrogenated material, which could be a
precursor for the thermal donor creation in the future.
Hydrogen plasma treatment is very attractive for
amorphous materials containing semiconductor crys-
talline nanoinclusions. This allows us to order the
amorphous matrix and to anneal dangling bonds in the
nanocrystal/amorphous matrix interface, which has to
increase the light-emitting properties of materials and to
improve the durability of the devices employing these
materials.
Hydrogen plasma treatment can be perspective both
for silicon and for wide-band gap semiconductor
materials such as A
III
B
V
which cannot endure a heating
to high temperatures, but the recombination-enhanced
processes effectively appeared in them [82]. This can be
related mainly to thin subsurface layers of such
semiconductors and multilayer semiconductor structures
on that basis [143]. The combination of the hydrogen
surface treatment of such materials with the plasma-
chemical deposition of an insulator on their surface
would allow one to obtain MIS structures without Fermi
level pinning on the insulator-semiconductor interface.
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118
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