Abstract
Disclosed are dopants and a novel method of fabrication p-type nitride semiconductors composed of IIIA elements (denoted as M) and nitrogen (denoted as N). The dopants includes the metals or nonmetals, whose stable valence state are smaller than +3 or -3. The novel method is a specific ion implantation in which a thin protecting layer, selected from dopant elements, is utilized. The disclosed dopants includes Be, Mg, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Ag, C, and Si etc. After said implantation, due annealing under a nitrogen atmosphere and etching to remove the protecting layer are conducted. This novel indirect implantation process not only protects from the most radiation damages but more importantly also avoids the loss of bulk nitrogen ions due to ion implantation. The residual radiation damage would be removed by the high temperature thermal annealing, which also facilitates the diffusion of dopants. This novel indirect implantation process that being easy to implement is promising for attaining various p-type M-N semiconductors, and in certain instances, room temperature diluted magnetic semiconductors which are applicable to magnetotransport, magneto-optical and spintronics devices, among others.