Positively charged states of a hydrogen atom in p-type InP

It has been demonstrated that atomic hydrogen drifts as a charged state in p-type InP and the presence of a high-electric field strongly affects the dissociation of the hydrogen-acceptor complex. During reverse-bias anneal experiments on the n+-p diode, it is confirmed that a charged hydrogen is accelerated out the high-field region below the breakdown voltage. The dissociation frequencies dependent on the applied bias voltage increase from 5.6×10−6 to 2.3×10−5 s−1 at 150 °C as the bias voltage is increased from 3 to 9 V. The dissociation energies calculated from the first-order kinetics are in the ranges of 1.58–1.40 eV, at 3–7 V annealing. It is proposed that atomic hydrogen in Zn-doped p-type InP exposed to the plasma hydrogen could be positively charged and strongly passivates the charged Zn acceptor, and also the hydrogen of the hydrogen-Zn acceptor complex can be released with the help of minority carriers or/and the loss of the charged hydrogen atom by the electric field.