It was demonstrated that annealing at 450C in H, which was known to passivate traps at the Si/SiO2 interface, could impede the generation of mobile protons during subsequent H annealing at 600C. A detailed reaction and diffusion model was presented for mobile proton build-up in the buried oxide of Si/SiO2/Si capacitors during H annealing at 600C. In this model, unpassivated interface traps played a key role in the initial stages of the proton-generation process. The mobile protons were generated near to the edges, and diffused laterally along the Si/SiO2 interface.

The Role of Interface States in Hydrogen Annealing-Induced Mobile Proton Generation at the Si-SiO2 Interface K.Vanheusden, R.A.B.Devine: Applied Physics Letters, 2000, 76[21], 3109-11