Theory of Hydrogen Complexes in Si

Abstract

The predominance of Si-H bonding and the origin of {111} platelets in hydrogenated Si remain important unsolvedproblems in the study of H in Si.Recent theoretical and experimental results indicate that H predominately enters the Si network in pairs. A promising diatomic H configuration consists of a bond centered H closely associated with an antibonding centered H. In this work, we show that adjacent diatomic H pairs have a binding energy of 0.2 eV/2H. The binding originates from relaxation of strained Si-Si backbonds. Further clustering of the H pairs eliminates all strained bonds, forming a hydrogenated platelet oriented along the {111} plane. The binding energy of 3.95 eV/2H for the platelet is 0.15 eV lower than that for interstitial H2 molecules in c-Si. Lattice expansion makes the platelets energetically more competitivewith the lowest energy Si-H bonding confi gration at hydrogenated Si (111) surfaces. These higher level complexes explainthe formation of platelets, Raman spectra, and absence of gap states in hydrogenated c- Si as well as the clustered phaseseen in NMR and of H evolution and diffusion in hydrogenated amorphous Si.