SIMS was used to investigate the isoelectronic In-doped p-type GaN films. The growth rate of the p-type GaN film decreased with increasing Mg and In doping. The Mg saturation in GaN was 3.55 x 10(19) atoms/cm(3). The role of In as surfactant was evaluated by varying In concentrations and it was observed that the surface appeared smooth with increasing In incorporation. The Mg solubility in p-type GaN improved to 0.0025% molar ratio of the GaN with In incorporation. The In concentration results observed in neutron activation analysis (NAA) were found to be higher by a factor of 2.88 than that observed in SIMS and can be attributed to the difference in sensitivity of the two techniques. Good linearity in the results was observed from both techniques. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.