Configurations, energies, and thermodynamics of the neutral MgH complex in GaN

Atomic configurations corresponding to local-energy minima for the neutral MgH complex in wurtzite GaN are identified using density-functional theory and the generalized-gradient approximation for exchange and correlation. MgH binding energies, H local-mode vibration frequencies, and configurational degeneracies for the six lowest-energy configurations are used, along with corresponding results for isolated H+, to compute equilibrium H state populations in Mg-doped GaN as a function of temperature. For a Mg concentration of 1×1019/cm3 and a H/Mg concentration ratio of 0.99, MgH is found to be the majority H species at room temperature with isolated H+ becoming the majority species at T≈550 °C. Among the MgH states, one is found to dominate at all temperatures. The dominant configuration consists of H at an antibonding site of a N neighbor of the substitutional Mg, with the Mg–N and N–H bonds nearly aligned and the N–H bond oriented at an angle of ∼109° with the c axis. The H stretch-mode frequency of the dominant state is consistent with the peak observed in Fourier-transform infrared reflection spectra from Mg-doped GaN samples.