Deuterium reservoirs and ingress paths

Abstract

Semiconductor structures are provided with on-board deuterium reservoirs or with deuterium ingress paths which allow for diffusion of deuterium to semiconductor device regions for passivation purposes. The on-board deuterium reservoirs are in the form of plugs which extend through an insulating layer and a deuterium barrier layer to the semiconductor substrate, and are preferably positioned in contact with a shallow trench oxide which will allow diffusion of deuterium to the semiconductor devices. The deuterium ingress paths extend through thin film layers from the top or through the silicon substrate. The latter include shallow trench isolations formed in a semiconductor substrate which are adjacent and connected to semiconductor devices formed in the semiconductor substrate, and where the back portion of the semiconductor substrate has been polished or ground down to the bottom of the shallow trench isolation, thereby allowing deuterium, during an anneal, to diffuse from the back through the shallow trench isolation to the semiconductor devices in the semiconductor substrate.