High concentration (more than 1 × 1018 cm−3) of hydrogen atoms remaining in Mg-doped GaN epitaxial layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition even after conventional annealing in N2 ambient could induce degradation in GaN-based devices containing Mg-doped layers. In this study, by annealing Mg-doped nitrides in NF3 ambient, we successfully reduced residual hydrogen below mid-1017 cm−3, which is much smaller than by N2 annealing. NF3 annealing enhances outdiffusion of hydrogen from the bulk, which is possibly because the nitrogen and fluorine radicals decomposed from NF3 accelerate desorption of hydrogen adatoms from the surface. The proposed method for Mg activation would improve the reliability of GaN-based light-emitting diodes and laser diodes.
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Acknowledgements
The authors benefited from fruitful discussion with Mr. Toshikazu Ohnishi, Dr. Toshiyuki Takizawa, Mr. Masahiro Ishida, Mr. Tetsuzo Ueda, Dr. Kaoru Inoue, and Dr. Tsuyoshi Tanaka of Matsushita Electric Industrial. The idea that doped fluorine can getter hydrogen in GaN originated from Mr. Masahiro Ishida. We are grateful to Dr. Ichitaro Waki of Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., who had reported that surface metal dots on the GaN surface accelerate the dissociation of hydrogen from GaN, as he explained to us the basic physics of H dissociation in GaN. NF3 annealing was carried out in the equipment of Core Technology, Inc. The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Yoshito Ikeda of Matsushita Electric Industrial and Mr. Toshiaki Yoshimura of Core Technology, Inc. for helping conduct the NF3 annealing experiment.
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Orita, K., Kawaguchi, M., Kawaguchi, Y. et al. Efficient Outdiffusion of Hydrogen from Mg-Doped Nitrides by NF3 Annealing. J. Electron. Mater. 38, 538–544 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-009-0681-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-009-0681-y