We present structural and electronic data which indicate that the dominant defects in GaAs grown at low temperatures (LT GaAs) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are As antisites (AsGa) and Ga vacancies (VGa), with negligible amounts of As interstitials (Asi). We show that the change of lattice parameter correlates with the concentration of AsGa, and that AsGa alone can account for the lattice expansion. We also show that the total concentration of AsGa has a characteristic second power dependence on the concentration of AsGa in the positive charge state for the material grown at different temperatures. This can be understood provided that VGa defects are the acceptors responsible for the carrier compensation. Our results are consistent with most experimental results and the theoretical expectation from the calculation of defect formation energies. We find that the conclusion may also be true in As-rich bulk GaAs.

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The surface morphology and crystalline quality of GaN layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on sapphire (0001) substrates were investigated for various thermal treatment conditions of low-temperature (LT)-grown GaN buffer layers. The surface morphology and crystalline quality of subsequently grown high-temperature (HT) GaN layers strongly depended on thermal effects during the temperature ramping process after LT growth of the buffer layers. We have found that the defect density and structure are affected by this temperature ramping process, and that the generation of growth pits is closely related to defects in the HT-GaN layers. High-quality HT-GaN layers with specular surface morphology were obtained with optimum growth and ramping conditions for the LT-GaN buffer layers. Furthermore, the role of thermal treatment during the temperature ramping process was identified, and mechanisms of nucleus formation, HT-growth initiation on the LT-GaN buffer layers, and defect formation are proposed and discussed.

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We demonstrate room temperature pulsed operation of nitride based multi-quantum-well (MQW) laser diodes with cleaved mirror facets grown on a conventional C-face sapphire substrate. Cleavage was performed along the <11*BAR*2*BAR*0> direction of the sapphire substrate, and the resultant facet was analyzed using an atomic force microscope (AFM) and theoretical calculation. A single peak emisson, at a wavelength of 417.5 nm, with a full width at half-maximum of 0.15 nm, was obtained. The threshold current density of the laser was 50 kA/cm2 and a voltage for the threshold current was 20 V.