REACTION-KINETICS OF HYDROGEN-GOLD COMPLEXES IN SILICON

We report studies of hydrogen-gold (Au-H) complexes in gold-doped sili con formed after hydrogen injection during wet chemical etching. Using deep-level transient spectroscopy we find three deep levels that most likely belong to the same Au-H center, labeled G. This electrically a ctive Au-H center transforms irreversibly into an electrically inactiv e Au-H complex during annealing at temperatures above 150 degrees. Thi s transformation seems to occur only when excess atomic hydrogen is pr esent in the sample in the vicinity of the Au-H complexes. Based on th e anneaIing kinetics we tentatively assign the active complex to a Au- H pair and the passive one to Au-H-2.