On the Way to the Investigation of Hydrogen in GaN: Hydrogen in Nitrogen Doped GaP and GaAs

Abstract

Because of the great electronegativity of nitrogen, hydrogen is expected to behave differently in GaN and in the more conventional III–V semiconductors GaP and GaAs. In order to check this point, we have performed a spectroscopic investigation of nitrogen and hydrogen doped GaP and GaAs. In GaP, three different states of a nitrogen–hydrogen complex have been observed; two of these states, which correspond to two different charge states of the complex, are observed at equilibrium whereas the third one is metastable. The complex involves two hydrogen atoms; its structure is discussed. In GaAs, only two states of the complex are observed: a stable one and a metastable one.