Kinetic study on replacement of hydrogen by deuterium at (100)Si/SiO₂ interfaces

The kinetics for the replacement process of hydrogen by deuterium at the (100)Si/SiO₂ interface is studied. Metal-oxide-semiconductor devices were initially annealed in hydrogen and then reannealed in deuterium at various temperatures for various durations. The deuterium concentration C_D, defined as the percentage of interface defects passivated by deuterium, was then determined by a technique that is solely based on electrical measurements. From fundamental kinetics, activation energy E for replacing hydrogen by deuterium at the (100)Si/SiO₂ interface is determined to be 1.84 eV. This result suggests that the replacement of hydrogen by deuterium involves a process of the dissociation of molecular deuterium at the interface.