Abstract
Si wafers subject to short‐time (4–12 min), low‐temperature atomic hydrogen cleaning in an electron‐cyclotron‐resonance plasma system have been annealed subsequently in the temperature range 300–750 °C for 20 min. While only a small broad peak is discernible immediately after hydrogenation, several pronounced and distinct majority‐carrier trap levels appear in deep‐level transient spectroscopy measurements of subsequently fabricated Schottky diodes on both n‐ and p‐type Si samples annealed at 450 °C and above. The concentrations peak at anneal temperatures around 500 °C and drop substantially beyond 750 °C. This phenomenon appears to be unrelated to the presence of oxygen in Si and is of potential importance in silicon processing technology.