The effects of H, O, or He plasma exposure upon grain boundary defects in polycrystalline material were examined. It was noted that, whereas a remote H plasma passivated Si dangling bonds efficiently, no change in the defect density was observed after exposing polycrystalline material to a remote O plasma. On the other hand, the use of an electron cyclotron resonance O and He plasma resulted in a decrease in the spin density. Secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements revealed that both plasma exposures vastly increased the H content of the samples, while the O concentration remained unchanged. The increase in the H concentration was proportional to the number of passivated grain-boundary defects.

N.H.Nickel, A.Yin, S.J.Fonash: Applied Physics Letters, 1994, 65[24], 3099-101