Hydrogen-dopant interactions in SiGe and strained Si

The appearance of carrier traps and the deactivation of dopants are typical hydrogen-related phenomena that are of prime importance to the reliability of traditional Si-based devices. Here we probe with first-principles calculations, the dynamics of hydrogen as individual impurities or in complexes with dopants in strained Si (s-Si) and SiGe systems. We find that the charged state determines the tendency of hydrogen to be released from dopant sites and to shuttle between a SiGe substrate and a s-Si overlayer. In this way, the effect of hydrogen differs between accumulation and inversion cycles of s-Si and SiGe devices. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3456395]