The distinctly different growth domains of a-plane epitaxial lateral overgrown GaN on stripe masks oriented along [01•0] direction were directly visualized by highly spatially and spectrally resolved cathodoluminescence microscopy. Clear-cut microscopic regions dominated by differing individual peak wavelengths originating from either basal plane stacking faults, prismatic stacking faults, impurity related donor-acceptor pair or (D0,X) emission were explicitly correlated to the different growth domains. The luminescence in the domains grown in [00•1] direction over the mask [epitaxial lateral overgrown wings] was dominated by the intense and sharp (D0,X) emission at 3.471eV. Here, no luminescence originating from morphological defects was found over several micrometers. This revealed the excellent material quality of the a-plane GaN, which was fully relaxed at the surface of the wings.

A-Plane GaN Epitaxial Lateral Overgrowth Structures - Growth Domains, Morphological Defects, and Impurity Incorporation Directly Imaged by Cathodoluminescence Microscopy. B.Bastek, F.Bertram, J.Christen, T.Wernicke, M.Weyers, M.Kneissl: Applied Physics Letters, 2008, 92[21], 212111