Cathodoluminescence and Raman research of V-shape inverted pyramid in HVPE grown GaN film

Thick GaN films with high quality have been grown on (0001) sapphire substrate in a home-made vertical HVPE reactor. Micron-size hexagonal pits with inverted pyramid shape appear on the film surface, which have six triangular {10–11} facets. These {10–11} facets show strong luminescence emission and are characteristic of doped n-type materials. Broad red emission is suppressed in {10–11} facets and is only found at the flat region out of the pit, which is related with the decreasing defects on {10–11} facets. Low CL emission intensity is observed at the apex of V-shape pits due to the enhanced nonradiative recombination. Raman spectra show that there are higher carrier concentration and low strain in the pit in comparison to the flat region out of the pit. The strain relaxation may be the main mechanism of the V-shape pits formation on the GaN film surface.