Shallow donor neutralization in CdTe:In by atomic hydrogen

Passivation effects in In doped n-CdTe upon exposure to rf hydrogen plasma are studied by electrical and photoluminescence measurements and were found to be maximum at about 150°C. Depth profiling by capacitance-voltage measurements show passivation of approximately an order of magnitude at 150°C and 50% at 170°C. No visual surface damage is seen. Reverse bias annealing experiments show that atomic hydrogen drifts in a charged state in n-CdTe, with reactivation kinetics of the donors different from the other well studied semiconductors. Manifestation of the donor passivation in photoluminescence is seen by the reduction of the donor bound luminescence