Evolution of dislocations in silicon during hydrogen plasma treatment

Structure changes in semiconductors caused by hydrogen plasma treatment are the subject of great interest due to passivation of defect levels in the gap. On the other hand the reactions between extended and hydrogen-induced defects in silicon are interested for the development of new defect engineering concepts. In this paper the processes of defects formation and evolution in p+ - and n+ -type crystalline silicon during hydrogen plasma treatment are investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Three types of hydrogen-induced defects are observed during hydrogen plasma treatment in both samples. At the same time the great distinctions in structure of pre-existing extended and hydrogen-induced defects were found to take place in p+ -Si in comparison with n+ -Si. A model is proposed wherein the observed structure changes are discussed as a result of formation, diffusion and decay of the complexes which consist of hydrogen, dopant and point defects