In a previous study, we successfully obtained large-diameter, low-dislocation-density GaN wafer using the Na-flux multi-point seed (MPS) technique. However, the lattice constants of the GaN wafer grown by this technique expanded due to oxygen concentration in pyramidal facets. We here invented a breakthrough technique for the promotion of lateral growth, and succeed in suppressing pyramidal facet growth by residual flux formed after extraction of the MPS-GaN substrate from the Na-Ga melt in a crucible. The surface of the grown wafer was fully composed of the c-plane and showed low oxygen concentration, so expansion of lattice constants could be successfully prevented.

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The magnetic response of magnetic particle imaging (MPI) tracers varies with the slew rate of the applied magnetic field, as well as with the tracer's average magnetic core size. Currently, 25 kHz and 20 mT/μ0 drive fields are common in MPI, but lower field amplitudes may be necessary for patient safety in future designs. We studied how several different sizes of monodisperse MPI tracers behaved under different drive field amplitude and frequency, using magnetic particle spectrometry and ac hysteresis for drive field conditions at 16, 26, and 40 kHz, with field amplitudes from 5 to 40 mT/μ0. We observed that both field amplitude and frequency can influence the tracer behavior, but that the magnetic behavior is consistent when the slew rate (the product of field amplitude and frequency) is consistent. However, smaller amplitudes provide a correspondingly smaller field of view, sometimes resulting in excitation of a minor hysteresis loop.

GaN wafers are generally fabricated by separating a foreign substrate from a GaN layer using thermal stress; however, thermal stress also leads to the cracking of the GaN layer. In this study, we first succeeded in dissolving a sapphire substrate just after Na-flux growth by successively changing the flux content for GaN growth (Ga–Na–C) to that for dissolving sapphire (Ga–Na–C–Li) at the considered growth temperature. Hence, no thermal stress was induced in the grown GaN crystals, resulting in a crack-free GaN substrate. We concluded that this process is a good candidate technique for supplying free-standing GaN substrates.

The formation of the pyramidal habit is one of the requirements for the dramatic reduction of dislocations during growth on a tiny GaN seed called a “point seed”. In this study, we focus on controlling the growth habit to form a pyramidal shape in order to reduce the number of dislocations in the c-growth sector during growth on GaN point seeds. High temperature growth was found to change the growth habit from the truncated pyramidal shape to the pyramidal shape. As a result, the number of dislocations in the c-growth sector tended to decrease with increasing growth temperature.