The diffusion depth and total amount of D which was incorporated during exposure to a plasma was found to depend markedly upon the conductivity type of the surface. Thus, a shallow n+ layer inhibited D in-diffusion in a manner which was consistent with the suggestion that the species had a level in the upper half of the GaAs band-gap. The de-activation of donors and acceptors by D was then the result of various chemical reactions which were based upon its differing charge state in n-type and p-type material. Thus, Zn acceptors exhibited a re-activation energy of 1.6eV. This was less than the typical donor value (2.1eV).

S.J.Pearton, W.C.Dautremont-Smith, J.Lopata, C.W.Tu, C.R.Abernathy: Physical Review B, 1987, 36[8], 4260-4