A method of forming a Light Emitting Diode (LED) precursor is provided. The method comprises forming a LED stack comprising a plurality of Group III-nitride layers on a substrate, the LED stack comprising a LED stack surface formed on an opposite side of the LED stack to the substrate, and masking a first portion of the LED stack surface, leaving a second portion of the LED stack surface exposed. The second portion of the LED stack surface is subjected to a resistivity changing process such that a second region of the LED stack below the second portion of the LED stack surface comprising at least one of the Group III-nitride layers of the LED stack has a relatively higher resistivity than a resistivity of the respective Group-III nitride layer in a first region of the LED stack below the first portion of the LED stack surface.

Fabricating a regrown GaN p-n junction includes depositing a n-GaN layer on a substrate including n.sup.+-GaN, etching a surface of the n-GaN layer to yield an etched surface, depositing a p-GaN layer on the etched surface, etching a portion of the n-GaN layer and a portion of the p-GaN layer to yield a mesa opposite the substrate, and passivating a portion of the p-GaN layer around an edge of the mesa. The regrown GaN p-n junction is defined at an interface between the n-GaN layer and the p-GaN layer. The regrown GaN p-n junction includes a substrate, a n-GaN layer on the substrate having an etched surface, a p-GaN layer on the etched surface, a mesa defined by an etched portion of the n-GaN layer and an etched portion of the p-GaN layer, and a passivated portion of the p-GaN layer around an edge of the mesa.

A p-n diode includes a first electrode, a n-GaN layer on the first electrode, a p-GaN layer on the n-GaN layer, and a second electrode on a first portion of the p-GaN layer. A region of the p-GaN layer surrounding the electrode is a passivated region. Treating a GaN power device having a p-GaN layer includes covering a portion of the p-GaN layer with a metal layer, exposing the p-GaN layer to a hydrogen plasma, and thermally annealing the p-GaN layer, thereby passivating a region of the p-GaN layer proximate the metal layer.

According to the preparation method for a semiconductor structure provided in the present application, a selective epitaxial growth method is used, without etching the n-type semiconductor layer and the p-type semiconductor layer, thus avoiding problems such as uncontrollable etching depth and damaged etched surface, which effectively reduces gate leakage, maintains low resistance in a channel region, suppresses current collapse, and improves reliability and stability of a device.

Methods are provided of selectively obtaining n-type and p-type regions from the same III-Nitride layer deposited on a substrate without using diffusion or ion-implantation techniques. The III-Nitride layer is co-doped simultaneously with n-type and p-type dopants, with p-type dopant concentration higher than n-type dopant to generate p-n junctions. The methods rely on obtaining activated p-type dopants only in selected regions to generate p-type layers, whereas the rest of the regions effectively behave as an n-type layer by having deactivated p-type dopant atoms.

A p-n diode includes a first electrode, a n-GaN layer on the first electrode, a p-GaN layer on the n-GaN layer, and a second electrode on a first portion of the p-GaN layer. A region of the p-GaN layer surrounding the electrode is a passivated region. Treating a GaN power device having a p-GaN layer includes covering a portion of the p-GaN layer with a metal layer, exposing the p-GaN layer to a hydrogen plasma, and thermally annealing the p-GaN layer, thereby passivating a region of the p-GaN layer proximate the metal layer.

Fabricating a regrown GaN p-n junction includes depositing a n-GaN layer on a substrate including n.sup.+-GaN, etching a surface of the n-GaN layer to yield an etched surface, depositing a p-GaN layer on the etched surface, etching a portion of the n-GaN layer and a portion of the p-GaN layer to yield a mesa opposite the substrate, and passivating a portion of the p-GaN layer around an edge of the mesa. The regrown GaN p-n junction is defined at an interface between the n-GaN layer and the p-GaN layer. The regrown GaN p-n junction includes a substrate, a n-GaN layer on the substrate having an etched surface, a p-GaN layer on the etched surface, a mesa defined by an etched portion of the n-GaN layer and an etched portion of the p-GaN layer, and a passivated portion of the p-GaN layer around an edge of the mesa.

Methods of hydrogen atom incorporation and of passivation of grain boundaries of polycrystalline semiconductors use a low temperature, pulsed plasma to incorporate hydrogen atoms into the grain boundaries of polycrystalline semiconductor materials in a controlled manner. A hydrogen-passivated polycrystalline IR detector has hydrogen atoms incorporated into grain boundaries of a polycrystalline Group III-V compound semiconductor detector element and a dark current density characteristic that is lower than the dark current density characteristic of a polycrystalline IR detector without the incorporated hydrogen atoms.

The present invention makes it possible to improve the characteristic of a semiconductor device using a nitride semiconductor. An electrically-conductive film is formed above a gate electrode above a substrate with an interlayer insulation film interposed and a source electrode coupled to a barrier layer on one side of the gate electrode and a drain electrode coupled to the barrier layer on the other side of the gate electrode are formed by etching the electrically-conductive film. On this occasion, the source electrode is etched so as to have a shape extending beyond above the gate electrode to the side of the drain electrode and having a gap (opening) above the gate electrode. Successively, hydrogen annealing is applied to the substrate. In this way, by forming the gap at a source field plate section of the source electrode, it is possible to efficiently supply hydrogen in the region where a channel is formed in the hydrogen annealing process.

A MISFET is formed to include: a co-doped layer that is formed over a substrate and has an n-type semiconductor region and a p-type semiconductor region; and a gate electrode formed over the co-doped layer via a gate insulation film. The co-doped layer contains a larger amount of Mg, a p-type impurity, than that of Si, an n-type impurity. Accordingly, the carriers (electrons) resulting from the n-type impurities (herein, Si) in the co-doped layer are canceled by the carriers (holes) resulting from p-type impurities (herein, Mg), thereby allowing the co-doped layer to serve as the p-type semiconductor region. Mg can be inactivated by introducing hydrogen into, of the co-doped layer, a region where the n-type semiconductor region is to be formed, thereby allowing the region to serve as the n-type semiconductor region. By thus introducing hydrogen into the co-doped layer, the p-type semiconductor region and the n-type semiconductor region can be formed in the same layer.