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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
Hydrogen segregation at the interface between an epitaxial Al film and a Si (111) substrate is studied using the 1H(15N, αγ)12C nuclear resonant reaction. Hydrogen depth profiles show that H atoms diffuse through the 1600 Å thick Al layer during 500 eV H implantation and are trapped at the Al/Si interface. The total amount of interface H is about 2 × 1015 /cm2 after a 1.4 × 1018 H/cm2 implantation, and the H atoms are narrowly distributed in the direction normal to the interface. During an isothermal anneal at 360 K, the amount of interface H decreases exponentially with annealing time; and during ramp annealing from 110 to 500 K, an abrupt release of the interface H is observed at temperature around 380 K. The release rates in both cases are controlled by a first order thermally activated de-trapping process with a binding energy of 0.86 eV/atom.