A Mechanism for Mg acceptor activation in GaN by Low Energy Electron Beam Irradiation

Low Energy Electron Beam Irradiation (LEEBI) was found to quench the donor-acceptor pair (DAP) attributed to carbon (C_N at 3.28 eV at 80 K) and enhances the emission of the 3.27 eV peak, which has been attributed to a free-to-bound (e,Mg⁰) transition at 300 K. This results in increased cathodoluminescence (CL) emission at room temperature and a decrease in CL emission at liquid nitrogen temperatures (~77 K).