Thermal stability of isolated and complexed Ga vacancies in GaN bulk crystals

We have applied positron annihilation spectroscopy to show that 2-MeV electron irradiation at 300 K creates primary Ga vacancies in GaN with an introduction rate of 1 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{-}1}$. The Ga vacancies recover in long-range migration processes at 500–600 K with an estimated migration energy of 1.5 (2) eV. Since the native Ga vacancies in as-grown GaN survive up to much higher temperatures (1300–1500 K), we conclude that they are stabilized by forming complexes with oxygen impurities. The estimated binding energy of 2.2 (4) eV of such complexes is in good agreement with the results of theoretical calculations.