Passivation, by molecular H at temperatures ranging from 213 to 234C, of the interfacial Pb0 and Pb1 defects in (100)Si/SiO2 which had been thermally grown at temperatures below 750C, was analyzed by using K-band electron spin resonance techniques. It was found that the passivation kinetics could be described by using the same defect-H2 reaction-limited model which was applied to the interfacial Pb defect (OSiSi3) in (111)Si/SiO2 which had been grown at 850C. However, unlike Pb, which was typified by a single-valued activation energy (1.66eV) for passivation, both Pb0 and Pb1 exhibited a Gaussian spread of about 0.15eV around their mean values of 1.51 and 1.57eV, respectively. The similarity of the passivation kinetics was in accord with the assignment of the Pb0 and Pb1 defects (like Pb) to an interfacial unpaired sp3 Si hybrid. On the other hand, as there was no fundamental difference between Pb0 and Pb1, with regard to passivation in H2, no more specific identification of Pb with Pb0 or Pb1 could be concluded.

A.Stesmans: Solid State Communications, 1996, 97[4], 255-9