A series of experiments were conducted to systematically study the effects of etching conditions on GaN by a convenient photo-assisted chemical(PAC) etching method. The solution concentration has an evident influence on the surface morphology of GaN and the optimal solution concentrations for GaN hexagonal pyramids have been identified. GaN with hexagonal pyramids have higher crystal quality and tensile strain relaxation compared with as-grown GaN. A detailed analysis about evolution of the size, density and optical property of GaN hexagonal pyramids is described as a function of light intensity. The intensity of photoluminescence spectra of GaN etched with hexagonal pyramids significantly increases compared to that of as-grown GaN due to multiple scattering events, high quality GaN with pyramids and the Bragg effect.
InAlN epilayers were grown on high quality GaN and A1N templates with the same growth parameters. Measurement results showed that two samples had the same In content of～16%,while the crystal quality and surface topography of the InAlN epilayer grown on the AlN template,with 282.3"（002） full width at half maximum （FWHM） of rocking curve,313.5"（102） FWHM,surface roughness of 0.39 nm and V-pit density of 2.8×108 cm-2,were better than that of the InAlN epilayer grown on the GaN template,309.3",339.1",0.593 nm and 4.2×108 cm-2.A primary conclusion was proposed that both the crystal quality and the surface topography of the InAlN epilayer grown on the AlN template were better than that of the InAlN epilayer grown on the GaN template. Therefore,the AlN template was a better choice than the GaN template for getting high quality InAlN epilayers.
