The role of extended defects in determining the atomic scale surface morphology of non-polar {1¯1▪0} m-plane gallium nitride was elucidated. The hetero-epitaxially grown m-GaN films were commonly reported to yield striated surface morphologies (slate morphology) correlated with their high densities of basal plane stacking faults. Here, the growth window was explored to allow non-slate morphologies for hydride vapor phase epitaxy. Lateral epitaxial overgrowth was then utilized to produce m-GaN films with 3 regimes of differing extended defect contents. Elimination of stacking faults from the m-GaN yielded step-flow features with an average step height of 4 to 7ML even for slate morphology growth conditions. Defect-Mediated Surface Morphology of Nonpolar m-Plane GaN. A.Hirai, B.A.Haskell, M.B.McLaurin, F.Wu, M.C.Schmidt, K.C.Kim, T.J.Baker, S.P.DenBaars, S.Nakamura, J.S.Speck: Applied Physics Letters, 2007, 90[12], 121119