The content of hydrogen in Pd/n-Si, Pd/p-Si, and Pd/p-GaAs devices hav
e been measured, both in the semiconducting substrates and the palladi
um thin film deposited on p-type Si, n-type Si and p-type GaAs, by ERD
A (Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis) using 55 Mev Si ions. The sample
s were hydrogenated by keeping them in the atmosphere of molecular hyd
rogen at a pressure of 1 atm at room temperature. It is found that the
re is a fairly large amount of hydrogen in the semiconductor substrate
s and the palladium overlayers. If seems that the hydrogen absorbed by
the palladium overlayers diffuses to the semiconducting substrates th
rough the Pd/Semiconductor interface. It is found that the p-type semi
conducting substrates accommodate more hydrogen than n-type semiconduc
ting substrates in such hydrogenated samples. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsev
ier Science Ltd