Abstract:Gallium Nitride (GaN)-based materials have great advantages, such as direct and large band-gap, high critical field strength and thermal conductivity, high carrier saturation velocity, and high mobility and concentration of two-dimensional electron gas at hetero-junction interface, the advantages determine that the GaN-based materials and devices play an important role in the area of light-emitting semiconductor materials. Thus, the preparation of high quality GaN-based materials doped with various elements has become one of interesting research topics. The recent advanced researches and developments are reviewed and it mainly focuses on doped GaN-based materials, including GaN doped with group IIA elements, the transition elements, and the rare-earth elements; and also the effects of different dopant on the growth and optical properties of GaN-based materials are analyzed. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of various doping technologies have been further compared by taking Mg-doped GaN as a typical example