Fabrication of GaN Microporous Structure at a GaN/Sapphire Interface as the Template for Thick-Film GaN Separation Grown by HVPE

Abstract

In this paper, a microporous structure at the GaN/sapphire interface has been obtained by an electrochemical etching method via a selective etching progress using an as-grown GaN/sapphire wafer grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The as-prepared GaN interfacial microporous structure has been used as a template for the following growth of thick-film GaN crystal by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE), facilitating the fabrication of a free-standing GaN substrate detached from a sapphire substrate. The evolution of the interfacial microporous structure has been investigated by varying the etching voltages and time, and the formation mechanism of interfacial microporous structure has been discussed in detail as well. Appropriate interfacial microporous structure is beneficial for separating the thick GaN crystal grown by HVPE from sapphire during the cooling down process. The separation that occurred at the place of interfacial microporous can be attributed to the large thermal strain between GaN and sapphire. This work realized the fabrication of a free-standing GaN substrate with high crystal quality and nearly no residual strain.