Efficient Outdiffusion of Hydrogen from Mg-Doped Nitrides by NF^sub 3^ Annealing

High concentration (more than 1 × 10^sup 18^ cm^sup -3^) of hydrogen atoms remaining in Mg-doped GaN epitaxial layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition even after conventional annealing in N^sub 2^ ambient could induce degradation in GaN-based devices containing Mg-doped layers. In this study, by annealing Mg-doped nitrides in NF^sub 3^ ambient, we successfully reduced residual hydrogen below mid-10^sup 17^ cm^sup -3^, which is much smaller than by N^sub 2^ annealing. NF^sub 3^ annealing enhances outdiffusion of hydrogen from the bulk, which is possibly because the nitrogen and fluorine radicals decomposed from NF^sub 3^ 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. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]