Investigation of Defects and Polarity in GaN Using Hot Wet Etching, Atomic Force and Transmission Electron Microscopy and Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction

Abstract

Availability of reliable and quick methods to investigate defects and polarity in GaN films is of great interest. We have used photo-electrochemical (PEC) and hot wet etching to determine the defect density. We found the density of whiskers formed by the PEC process to be similar to the density of hexagonal pits formed by wet etching and to the dislocation density obtained by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Hot wet etching was used also to investigate the polarity of MBE-grown GaN films together with convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). We have found that hot H 3 PO 4 etches N-polarity GaN films very quickly resulting in the complete removal or a drastic change of surface morphology. On the contrary, the acid attacks only the defect sites in Ga-polar films leaving the defect-free GaN intact and the morphology unchanged. The polarity assignments, confirmed by CBED experiments, were related to the as-grown surface morphology and to the growth conditions.