Easy-to-apply methodology to measure the hydrogen concentration in boron-doped crystalline silicon

Hydrogen is a highly relevant impurity in crystalline silicon associated with a variety of effects particularly important in solar cell technology such as defect and surface passivation. It has been the subject of countless studies. Much of this however relies to a certain degree on speculation due to limitations in hydrogen measurement capability, making a direct quantitative correlation of these phenomena with the hydrogen content largely impossible so far. In this contribution, we apply recent advances in the understanding of hydrogen introduction and behaviour in silicon - in particular the conversion of quenched in dimeric hydrogen to boron hydrogen pairs (BH) - and introduce an easy-to-apply methodology to determine quantitatively the hydrogen concentration in bulk boron-doped silicon. The technique involves the measurement and analysis of changes to the bulk resistivity, as recorded by contactless eddy-current measurements, due to the formation of BH pairs during annealing at temperatures between 140 and 180 °C. To demonstrate the method, we apply it to boron-doped float-zone silicon wafers with SiNx:H coatings of different compositions, introducing different total hydrogen concentrations between 5 × 1014 and 1.3 × 1015 cm−3 into the silicon bulk during a fast-firing step. Without firing, the hydrogen content is below the detection limit of 3 × 1014 cm−3 for the 1 Ω cm test sample used. •The hydrogen concentration in B-doped silicon can be determined from its resistivity.•The method is based on the formation of boron-hydrogen-pairs.•The detection limit depends on the uncertainties of the resistivity measurements.•A detection limit in the range of 1014 cm−3 and lower can easily be achieved.