A method for activating implanted dopants and repairing damage to dopant-implanted GaN to form n-type or p-type GaN. A GaN substrate is implanted with n- or p-type ions and is subjected to a high-temperature anneal to activate the implanted dopants and to produce planar n- or p-type doped areas within the GaN having an activated dopant concentration of about 1018-1022 cm−3. An initial annealing at a temperature at which the GaN is stable at a predetermined process temperature for a predetermined time can be conducted before the high-temperature anneal. A thermally stable cap can be applied to the GaN substrate to suppress nitrogen evolution from the GaN surface during the high-temperature annealing step. The high-temperature annealing can be conducted under N2 pressure to increase the stability of the GaN. The annealing can be conducted using laser annealing or rapid thermal annealing (RTA).