The tracer diffusion of H was studied in amorphous Si3N4:H films which were produced by radio-frequency magnetron reactive sputtering. The diffusion was carried out between 700 and 1000C, using ion-implanted isotopes. Secondary ion mass spectrometry was used for depth profile analysis. A considerable part of the tracer was immobilized, due to interaction with the implantation damage, but the other part migrated freely into the film; from which the diffusivities were extracted. These diffusivities agreed with those obtained using a control experiment with a gas exchange technique. This demonstrated that the implantation damage had no appreciable influence upon the determination of the diffusivities. The 2H transport could be described by trap-limited diffusion, where the tracer atoms were temporarily trapped by intrinsic such as N dangling bonds. For the present case of a considerable dissociation rate of trapped H, the effective diffusivities (figure 33) obeyed:

D (m2/s) = 5 x 10-4 exp[-3.4(eV)/kT]

The Diffusion of Ion Implanted Hydrogen in Amorphous Si3N4:H Films. H.Schmidt, W.Gruber, G.Borchardt, M.Bruns, M.Rudolphi, H.Baumann: Journal of Physics - Condensed Matter, 2004, 16[24], 4233-44