We have studied the influence of the carrier gas (hydrogen versus nitrogen) on the morphology and defect characteristics of GaN grown by epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) using hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Growth was carried out on metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy GaN/sapphire patterned with SiO2 stripes, aligned along the 〈11̄00〉 GaN direction. The cross sections of the ELO-grown stripes change from trapezoidal to triangular with an increase in hydrogen content in the carrier gas due to a change of the ratio of the growth velocities on the {112̄2} and (0001) facets. Transmission electron microscopy observations show that while in stripes with trapezoidal morphology, dislocations from the window region still reach the sample surface, for triangular stripes they are bent in the horizontal direction away from the top surface. Cross-sectional cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy shows basically two distinct regions of luminescence intensity and nature, one showing near-band gap excitonic emission, the other a high intensity blueshifted emission band which we attribute to e–h plasma recombination, indicating a high local free carrier concentration due to intrinsic defects or impurities. These two regions are correlated with different growth facets and not with the dislocation distribution. An original two-step growth method was developed which exploits this dependence of the morphology on the gas phase composition. In the first step the formation of triangular facets is preferential. This is done to bend the dislocations which have propagated vertically from the seed layer into the horizontal direction. In the second step the layers are planarized using conditions which favor lateral growth. Very good control of the faceting and high reproducibility of the selectively grown structures and layers could be obtained. By using spatially resolved CL measurements carried out on cleaved cross sections of the layers, different domains could be identified and correlated with the growth mode. The ELO layers obtained by two-step growth have significantly reduced dislocation densities of around 2–3×107 cm−2 at the surface, which is comparable to the best values of HVPE ELO GaN reported in the literature. The full width half maximum of the x-ray rocking curve gives values below 200 arcsec.

The authors report on the achievement of optically pumped III-V nitride blue microdisk lasers operating at room temperature. Controlled wet chemical etching of an AlInN interlayer lattice matched to GaN allows forming inverted cone pedestals. Whispering gallery modes are observed in the photoluminescence spectra of InGaN∕GaN quantum wells embedded in the GaN microdisks. Typical quality factors of several thousands are found (Q>4000). Laser action at ∼420nm is achieved under pulsed excitation at room temperature for a peak power density of 400kW∕cm2. The lasing emission linewidth is down to 0.033nm.

Highly selective oxidation of an AlInN interlayer buried in a GaN matrix is demonstrated. This technique was successfully applied to form current apertures in III-nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs). GaN LEDs were grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy with a lattice-matched AlInN layer inserted in the n-doped region of the device. Mesas were etched by Cl2∕Ar reactive ion etching to give access to the AlInN sidewalls. The sample was then oxidized anodically in a nitrilotriacetic acid solution. Using this technique, the AlInN layer was oxidized laterally up to 22μm deep while the surrounding GaN layers were kept unaffected. It was subsequently demonstrated that the oxidized AlInN layers are insulating and are therefore suitable for lateral current confinement in optoelectronic devices.

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PACS 42.55.Px, 81.05.Ea, 85.60.Jb Four selected material issues of group-III nitride layer structures grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy and molecular beam epitaxy on basal plane sapphire are reviewed. 1) The decomposition of GaN under the impact of hydrogen gas was measured and described thermodynamically. 2) The nucleation and coalescence of GaN islands on a low-temperature nucleation layer was identified to be the key process for the formation of edge-type threading dislocations and heterogeneous stress.3) The doping with magnesium was associated with pyramidal defects which formed upon a critical layer thickness and led to self-compensation of the acceptors. 4) The relaxation of plain tensile stress via cracks in bulk layers and superlattices based on AlGaN was investigated. The described studies allowed for a material optimization which finally led to the successful demonstration of a GaN based laser diode under pulsed current injection. The operation of the device is discussed in terms of the perfection of the crystallographically wet etched mirror facets and the lateral current spreading in p-type AlGaN cladding layers.