We report the growth of high-quality GaN epilayers on an ordered nanoporous GaN template by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The nanopores in GaN template were created by inductively coupled plasma etching using anodic aluminum oxide film as an etch mask. The average pore diameter and interpore distance is about 65 and 110nm, respectively. Subsequent overgrowth of GaN first begins at the GaN crystallite surface between the pores, and then air-bridge-mediated lateral overgrowth leads to the formation of the continuous layer. Microphotoluminescence and micro-Raman measurements show improved optical properties and significant strain relaxation in the overgrown layer when compared to GaN layer of same thickness simultaneously grown on sapphire without any template. Similar to conventional epitaxial lateral overgrown GaN, such overgrown GaN on a nanopatterned surface would also serve as a template for the growth of ultraviolet-visible light-emitting III-nitride devices.

We demonstrate that GaN can selectively grow by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition into the pores and laterally over the nanoscale patterned SiO2 mask on a template of GaN∕AlN∕Si. The nanoporous SiO2 on GaN surface with pore diameter of approximately 65 nm and pore spacing of 110 nm was created by inductively coupled plasma etching using anodic aluminum oxide template as a mask. Cross-section transmission electron microscopy shows that the threading-dislocation density was largely reduced in this nanoepitaxial lateral overgrowth region. Dislocations parallel to the interface are the dominant type of dislocations in the overgrown layer of GaN. A large number of the threading dislocations were filtered by the nanoscale mask, which leads to the dramatic reduction of the threading dislocations during the growth within the nano-openings. More importantly, due to the nanoscale size of the mask area, the very fast coalescence and subsequent lateral overgrowth of GaN force the threading dislocations to bend to the basal plane within the first 50 nm of the film thickness. The structure of overgrown GaN is a truncated hexagonal pyramid which is covered with six {11¯01} side facets and (0001) top surface depending on the growth conditions.

Nanoheteroepitaxial (NHE) lateral overgrowth of GaN on nanoporous Si(111) substrates has been demonstrated. Nanopore arrays in Si(111) surfaces were fabricated using anodized aluminum oxide templates as etch masks, resulting in an average pore diameter and depth of about 60 and 160–180nm, respectively. NHE growth of AlN and GaN was found to result in a significant reduction in the threading dislocation density (<108cm−2) compared to that on flat Si(111). Most dislocations that originate at the Si interface bent to lie in the GaN (0001) basal plane during lateral growth over the pore openings. E2 phonon blueshifts in the Raman spectra indicate a significant relaxation of the tensile stress in the coalesced GaN films, due to three-dimensional stress relaxation mechanisms on porous substrates. Our results show that a single step lateral overgrowth of GaN on nanopatterned Si(111) substrates without a dielectric mask is a simple way to improve the crystalline quality of GaN layers for microelectronic applications.

Dense, crystalline arrays of InGaN nanorings, nanodots, and nanoarrows have been fabricated on GaN substrates by template-assisted nano-area selective growth. To create the nanostructures, we have used nanoporous anodic alumina films as templates to pattern nanopores in an SiO2 transfer layer, and then used this patterned SiO2 layer as a template for nitride growth by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. We have varied the diameter of the deposited nitride nanostructures from 35 to 250 nm by changing the initial anodic alumina template structure. In addition, by controlling the nitride growth time we have created various types of nanostructures, from nanorings to nanoarrows. This structural evolution begins with the nucleation and formation of a nanoring structure, followed by coalescence and growth to form faceted nanodots, and finally lateral overgrowth to form faceted nanoarrows.