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GaN films were grown using SiN treatment of sapphire substrate by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy in a home-made vertical reactor at atmospheric pressure. The growth was interrupted at different stages to investigate the impact of interface and surface roughness on the optical properties of the GaN layers. A transition from a three-dimensional (3D) to two-dimensional (2D) growth mode was revealed by real-time in situ laser reflectometry (k = 632.8 nm) as well as by atomic force microscopy images. A theoretical model is proposed to determine the refractive index evolution during GaN layer growth based on the Bruggeman effective medium approximation. Ex situ multiwavelength reflectivity signals were fit to the thin-film interference equations to derive the evolution of the effective refractive indexes for the surface and interface GaN layer, thereby determining the refractive index of the GaN layer during growth. Ex situ spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements of the GaN layer refractive indexes at different growth stages were compared with calculated results. Moreover, an empirical law was developed to fit the refractive index evolution during GaN layer growth and used for in situ reflectivity signal simulation in order to deduce the growth rate. Finally, good agreement was observed between the experimental and theoretical findings.

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