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

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.