@article{boehme_lucovsky_2001, title={Dissociation reactions of hydrogen in remote plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor-deposition silicon nitride}, volume={19}, ISSN={["0734-2101"]}, DOI={10.1116/1.1398538}, abstractNote={Dominant hydrogen dissociation reactions during annealing of hydrogenated amorphous-silicon nitride were determined by comparison of the bond density dynamics with various reaction models. The sample material was produced with remote plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition, deposited at high-ammonia-to-silane flow ratios (ammonia rich). The heat treatment was performed with rapid thermal annealing at various annealing temperatures and times as well as samples containing different stoichiometries and isotopes (hydrogenated and deuterated). The experiments showed that hydrogen loss during annealing is mostly due to molecular hydrogen (H2) release as long as SiH bonds are contained in the film. After their exhaustion, an ammonia (NH3) producing reaction prevails at temperatures between 600 and 900 °C.}, number={5}, journal={JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY A-VACUUM SURFACES AND FILMS}, author={Boehme, C and Lucovsky, G}, year={2001}, pages={2622–2628} }
 @article{boehme_lucovsky_2000, title={H loss mechanism during anneal of silicon nitride: Chemical dissociation}, volume={88}, ISSN={["0021-8979"]}, DOI={10.1063/1.1321730}, abstractNote={Remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride (SixNyHz), produced at high ammonia to silane flow rates (ammonia rich) shows a reduction of hydrogen during rapid thermal anneal at temperatures that exceed the deposition temperature. This H release could be either due to a “slow” atomic diffusion of the covalent bonded atoms between bonding sites, or to a “fast” molecular diffusion of hydrogen containing molecules (e.g., H2, NH3, SiH4), which dissociate from the network before they diffuse. In order to determine the dominant mechanism, layers of deuterated and hydrogenated silicon nitride on top of a crystalline Si substrate were annealed and the development of the NH- and ND-area densities were measured with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Comparison of theoretical models with the measurements showed that chemical dissociation and subsequent rapid diffusion are the dominant processes. These results were confirmed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The experiments indicate that the H reduction in silicon nitride antireflection coatings of solar cells is mostly due to H migration out of the system and not into the Si area and make the hypothesis that postdeposition annealing of solar cell antireflection coatings can cause H-related bulk passivation of the underlying c-Si therefore questionable.}, number={10}, journal={JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS}, author={Boehme, C and Lucovsky, G}, year={2000}, month={Nov}, pages={6055–6059} }