The authors fabricated GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on two different GaN templates with the same LED structure. One on thin GaN template (∼2μm) with high dislocation density [low (109cm−2)] grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (sample A) and the other on thick GaN template (∼20μm) with comparatively low dislocation density [high (108cm−2)] by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy (sample B). In order to understand the mechanism of leakage current in LEDs, the correlation between current-voltage characteristics and etch pit density of LEDs was studied.

We report on the lattice relaxation mechanism of ZnO films grown on c-Al2O3 substrates by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. The lattice relaxation of ZnO films with various thicknesses up to 2000nm is investigated by using both in situ time-resolved reflection high energy electron diffraction observation during the initial growth and absolute lattice constant measurements (Bond method) for grown films. The residual strain in the films is explained in terms of lattice misfit relaxation (compression) at the growth temperature and thermal stress (tension) due to the difference of growth and measurement temperatures. In thick films (>1μm), the residual tensile strain begins to relax by bending and microcrack formation.

The structural and optical properties of high-quality homoepitaxial ZnTe films are investigated. A substrate surface treatment using diluted HF solution plays a key role in growing device-quality ZnTe layers. X-ray diffraction analysis of ZnTe epilayers based on the crystal-truncation-rod method suggests that a homoepitaxial ZnTe film grown on a HF-treated substrate can be regarded as an ideal truncated crystal without an interfacial layer, while a ZnTe layer grown on a substrate without HF treatment suggests the presence of an interfacial layer which may lead to degraded crystallinity of ZnTe overlayers. The crystal quality of the homoepitaxial ZnTe layers with HF treatments are characterized by an extremely narrow x-ray diffraction linewidth of 15.6 arcsec and dominant very sharp excitonic emission lines with dramatically reduced deep-level emission intensity in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. Three bound excitonic emission lines at neutral acceptors are observed in the PL from the high-quality ZnTe homoepitaxial layers in addition to the free-exciton emission line, suggesting the presence of three different kinds of residual acceptor impurities.

GaN epitaxial films are grown on c‐plane sapphire substrates with CrN buffer. The GaN layers show high crystalline quality and smooth surface morphology without being cracked. Selective etching of CrN buffer is performed by wet etching using conventional Cr metal etchant, which results in success ful lift‐off of GaN thick layers. We confirm that the crystalline quality of GaN does not change through the etching process. These results indicate that the chemical lift‐off process using CrN buffer is promising for production of both freestanding GaN substrates and vertical‐structure devices. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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