Hole traps with a small cross-section (less than 10-15cm2), in Al-gated metal-oxide Si capacitors, were studied by using vacuum ultra-violet hole injection and capacitance-voltage measurements. The data showed that small hole traps were related to H/hole pairs or protons which were trapped in the oxide. As the accumulated positive charge and H content vanished simultaneously from the oxide within about 100s, it was suggested that they migrated together through the oxide as a proton. The small hole traps were not associated with defects in the as-grown oxide; they were generated by the radiation-induced release of atomic H. Their number was governed by the rates of release and removal (dimerization) of atomic H.

V.V.Afanasev, J.M.M.De Nijs, P.Balk: Applied Physics Letters, 1995, 66[14], 1738-40