Abstract
Fabrication of good quality P-type GaN remained as a challenge for many years which hindered the III-V nitrides from yielding visible light emitting devices. Firstly Amano et al succeeded in obtaining P-type GaN films using Mg doping and post Low Energy Electron Beam Irradiation (LEEBI) treatment. However only few region of the P-GaN was activated by LEEBI treatment. Later Nakamura et al succeeded in producing good quality P-GaN by thermal annealing method in which the as deposited P-GaN samples were annealed in N2 ambient at temperatures above $600^{\circ}C$. The carrier concentration of N type and P-type GaN differs by one order which have a major effect in AlGaN based deep UV-LED fabrication. So increasing the P-type GaN concentration becomes necessary. In this study we have proposed a novel method of activating P-type GaN by electrochemical potentiostatic method. Hydrogen bond in the Mg-H complexes of the P-type GaN is removed by electrochemical reaction using KOH solution as an electrolyte solution. Full structure LED sample grown by MOCVD serves as anode and platinum electrode serves as cathode. Experiments are performed by varying KOH concentration, process time and applied voltage. Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis is performed to determine the hydrogen concentration in the P-GaN sample activated by annealing and electrochemical method. Results suggest that the hydrogen concentration is lesser in P-GaN sample activated by electrochemical method than conventional annealing method. The output power of the LED is also enhanced for full structure samples with electrochemical activated P-GaN. Thus we propose an efficient method for P-GaN activation by electrochemical reaction. 30% improvement in light output is obtained by electrochemical activation method.