The incorporation of hydrogen into III-V nitrides during processing

Hydrogen is readily incorporated into GaN and related alloys during wet and dry etching, chemical vapor deposition of dielectric overlayers, boiling in water, and other process steps, in addition to its effects during metalorganic chemical vapor deposition or metalorganic molecular beam epitaxial growth. The hydrogen is bound at defects or impurities and passivates their electrical activity. Reactivation of passivated shallow donors in the nitrides occurs at 450-550°C, but evolution from the crystal requires much higher temperatures (≥800°C for GaN).