Arsenic in ZnO and GaN: substitutional cation or anion sites?

We have determined the lattice location of ion implanted As in ZnO and GaN by means of conversion electron emission channeling from radioactive $^{73}$As. In contrast to what one might expect from its nature as a group V element, we find that As does not occupy substitutional O sites in ZnO but in its large majority substitutional Zn sites. Arsenic in ZnO is thus an interesting example for an impurity in a semiconductor where the major impurity lattice site is determined by atomic size and electronegativity rather than its position in the periodic system. In contrast, in GaN the preference of As for substitutional cation sites is less pronounced and about half of the implanted As atoms occupy Ga and the other half N sites. Apparently, the smaller size-mismatch between As and N and the chemical similarity of both elements make it feasible that As partly substitutes for N atoms.