Study of hydrogen in hydrogenated Pd/semiconductor device by ERDA

Abstract

The content of hydrogen in Pd/n-Si, Pd/p-Si, and Pd/p-GaAs devices have been measured, both in the semiconducting substrates and the palladium thin film deposited on p-type Si, n-type Si and p-type GaAs, by ERDA (Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis) using 55 Mev Si ions. The samples were hydrogenated by keeping them in the atmosphere of molecular hydrogen at a pressure of 1 aim at room temperature. It is found that there is a fairly large amount of hydrogen in the semiconductor substrates and the palladium overlayers. It seems that the hydrogen absorbed by the palladium overlayers diffuses to the semiconducting substrates through the Pd/Semiconductor interface. It is found that the p-type semiconducting substrates accommodate more hydrogen than n-type semiconducting substrates in such hydrogenated samples. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.