Highly selective photoenhanced wet etching of GaN for defect investigation and device fabrication

Photoenhanced electro-chemical (PEC) wet etching has been shown to be suitable for dislocation-density estimation in n-GaN films as well as for GaN-based device fabrication. We report on PEC etching of n-GaN samples grown by MBE and HVPE methods in unstirred aqueous KOH solution under He-Cd laser illumination. Characterization of the etched samples was carried out using atomic force microscopy (AFM) in both cross-sectional and plan-view configurations and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). At moderate illumination densities, the SEM and AFM analyses reveal sub-100 nm scale threading vertical wires on the etched surfaces. The calculated density (~1x10 9 cm-2) is in agreement with dislocation density found by transmission electron microscopy. Using cross-sectional AFM, we find that these vertical wires are ~1µm high and are perpendicular to the sapphire surface. Applying a higher illumination density or an external voltage, we obtain a higher etch rate with a smooth free-feature etched surface. Some highly resistive samples that cannot be etched under normal conditions because the band bending is too small to confine the holes to the surface for them to participate in the PEC process, can be etched with the application of a voltage to the sample. In this case, the etch rate depends on both the polarity and the magnitude of the voltage applied.