Investigation of electron beam induced migration of hydrogen in Mg-doped GaN using Eu as a probe

TL;DR

This study uses Eu ions as probes to investigate how hydrogen migrates in Mg-doped GaN under electron beam irradiation, revealing a two-step dissociation process influenced by charge states and minority carriers.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method using Eu emission changes to monitor hydrogen dynamics in GaN and combines experimental and theoretical analysis to elucidate the dissociation mechanism.

Findings

Hydrogen migration involves a two-step dissociation process.

Minority carriers and charge states influence hydrogen dissociation.

Eu emission effectively probes hydrogen movement in GaN.

Abstract

We demonstrate the use of hydrogen induced changes in the emission of isoelectric Eu ions, in Mg-doped p-type GaN, as a powerful probe to study the dynamics of hydrogen movement under electron beam irradiation. We identify, experimentally, a two-step process in the dissociation of Mg-H complexes and propose, based on density functional theory, that the presence of minority carriers and resulting charge states of the hydrogen drives this process.