| Summary: | The effect of KrF excimer laser irradiation on the optical and electrical properties of epitaxial wafers with a <i>p</i>-GaN surface were investigated at different laser energy densities and pulse numbers. The laser-irradiated samples were annealed in oxygen. The laser irradiation-induced changes in optical and electrical properties of GaN epitaxial wafers were examined using PL, I–V, XPS, SIMS, and Hall effect measurements. Experimental results show that under an appropriate laser-irradiated condition, optical and electrical properties of the samples were improved to different degrees. The samples which were annealed after laser irradiation have better electrical properties such as the hole concentration and sheet resistance than those without annealing. We hypothesize that the pulsed KrF excimer laser irradiation dissociates the Mg–H complexes and annealing treatment allows the hydrogen to diffuse out more completely under the oxygen atmosphere at a proper temperature, by which the crystalline symmetry of GaN is improved. Under appropriate laser conditions and O<sub>2</sub>-activated annealing, the light output of the laser-irradiated GaN-based LED sample is about 1.44 times that of a conventional LED at 20 mA. It is found that the wall-plug efficiency is 10% higher at 20 mA and the reverse leakage current is 80% lower at 5 V.
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