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

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/19/10/107204

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).

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

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