Hydrogen effects in MOS devices

Hydrogen has a dual effect in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices, leading to improvement or degradation of their characteristics in many ways. Here, we present a review of results from first-principles calculations on key processes involving hydrogen in devices. We describe H reactions at the Si-SiO2 interface that create or annihilate carrier traps and various mechanisms of H trapping and release in the gate oxide, the substrate or the metal gate of a device. Our findings account for key features of well-known reliability phenomena, for example bias-temperature instability. We finally discuss the role of hydrogen in building devices with embedded carbon nanotubes.