Reactivation of Mg acceptor in Mg-doped GaN by nitrogen plasma treatment

Mg-doped GaN films, grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, were treated with a nitrogen plasma after a conventional rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The conductivity of the p-type GaN film was greatly enhanced by nitrogen plasma treatment, and exhibited a higher sheet hole concentration as well as lower sheet resistance than the RTA samples. A photoluminescence (PL) band which peaked at 3.27 eV was new, and a band at 2.95 eV was markedly attenuated in the plasma treated samples. PL measurements suggest that self-compensation in a Mg-doped GaN caused by the nitrogen vacancies is effectively reduced by the nitrogen plasma treatment, leading to an enhanced p-type conductivity. In addition, the plasma-treated sample revealed a drastic reduction in specific contact resistance by three orders of magnitude, compared with the RTA samples. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003- 6951(00)05021-X].