The effect of wet chemical etching and subsequent annealing on the electric
al activity of the dislocation-related centers in n-type Si is investigated
by the deep-level transient spectroscopy. It is observed that hydrogen pen
etrates into the samples already during room temperature etching but passiv
ates the dislocation centers only after 300 degrees C annealing. The differ
ent dislocation centers exhibit different efficiency of hydrogen passivatio
n. Possible reasons for the observed peculiarities of the dislocation passi
vation are discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.