Low dislocation density nonpolar (11‐20) GaN films achieved using scandium nitride interlayers

This paper reports the properties of low dislocation density a ‐plane 11‐20 GaN films grown on sapphire using 2 – 15 nm ScN interlayers (ILs). Dislocation densities decrease with increasing ScN IL thickness and the surface roughness for coalesced films remains low at 0.7 nm. X‐ray diffraction data show a reduction in ω‐scan FWHMs at all rotational positions and luminescence intensities increase compared to a control sample without a ScN IL. However, a slight increase in the prismatic stacking fault density is observed, compared to the control sample. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)