The influence of substrate etched on the quality of GaN epilayers

We report the growth of GaN epilayers on the sapphire substrate etched by MOCVD. Sapphire substrate is etched by H₃PO₄ and NaOH. The Raman scattering spectroscopy and photoetching analyses show that the substrate etched can effectively decrease the residual stress and the dislocations density in these epilayers. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows the process can reduce the value of the FWHM. Therefore, the quality of GaN epilayers should be improved by substrate etched.