Semipolar GaN grown on foreign substrates: a review

Abstract

Non- and semipolar GaN-based optoelectronic device structures have attracted much attention in recent years. Best results have been obtained on small bulk substrates cut from thick c-plane epi-wafers. However, owing to the limited size of such substrates, it is very attractive to study hetero-epitaxial approaches on foreign substrates. In this paper, we review the current state of such studies which eventually lead to large area non- or semipolar nitride structures. The simplest approach is to use planar sapphire or SiC wafers of non-c-plane orientations on which potentially less polar GaN can be grown. However, typically huge dislocation and in particular stacking fault densities evolve. More sophisticated approaches make use of the good GaN growth performance in the c-direction, eventually leading anyway to large area non- or semipolar structures. Several such approaches are discussed in this paper.