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Chin. Phys. B, 2010, Vol. 19(10): 107204    DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/19/10/107204
CONDENSED MATTER: ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE, ELECTRICAL, MAGNETIC, AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES Prev   Next  

The etching of a-plane GaN epilayers grown by metal–organic chemical vapour deposition

Xu Sheng-Rui(许晟瑞)a)†, Hao Yue(郝跃)a), Zhang Jin-Cheng(张进成)a), Zhou Xiao-Wei(周小伟)a), Cao Yan-Rong(曹艳荣)b), Ou Xin-Xiu(欧新秀)a), Mao Wei(毛维)a), Du Da-Chao(杜大超)a), and Wang Hao(王昊)a)
a School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China and National Key Laboratory of Fundamental Science on Wide Band-Gap Semiconductor Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China; b School of Electronical & Mechanical Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China
Abstract  Morphology of nonpolar (1120) a-plane GaN epilayers on r-plane (1102) sapphire substrate grown by low-pressure metal–organic vapour deposition was investigated after KOH solution etching. Many micron- and nano-meter columns on the a-plane GaN surface were observed by scanning electron microscopy. An etching mechanism model is proposed to interpret the origin of the peculiar etching morphology. The basal stacking fault in the a-plane GaN plays a very important role in the etching process.
Keywords:  crystal morphology      stacking fault      nonpolar GaN      chemical etching  
Received:  01 April 2010      Revised:  02 June 2010      Accepted manuscript online: 
PACS:  61.72.Nn (Stacking faults and other planar or extended defects)  
  68.35.B- (Structure of clean surfaces (and surface reconstruction))  
  68.55.-a (Thin film structure and morphology)  
  81.15.Gh (Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced CVD, MOCVD, ALD, etc.))  
  81.15.Kk (Vapor phase epitaxy; growth from vapor phase)  
  81.65.Cf (Surface cleaning, etching, patterning)  
Fund: Project supported by the National Key Science & Technology Special Project (Grant No. 2008ZX01002-002), the Major Program and State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 60890191 and 60736033), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. JY10000904009).

Cite this article: 

Xu Sheng-Rui(许晟瑞), Hao Yue(郝跃), Zhang Jin-Cheng(张进成), Zhou Xiao-Wei(周小伟), Cao Yan-Rong(曹艳荣), Ou Xin-Xiu(欧新秀), Mao Wei(毛维), Du Da-Chao(杜大超), and Wang Hao(王昊) The etching of a-plane GaN epilayers grown by metal–organic chemical vapour deposition 2010 Chin. Phys. B 19 107204

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