Study of the structural damage in the (0001) GaN epilayer processed by laser lift-off techniques

The structural influences of the laser lift-off (LLO) techniques on the created (0001) GaN surface region are characterized by cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and fitted using the model of stress waves caused by a longitudinal impact at the end of a cylindrical bar extending to infinity. The authors study reveals that, in addition to the superficial damage caused by laser absorption, the stress saltation in GaN crystal where the shock waves come into being induces deformation of the lattices and generates a cluster of half loops above the LLO interface. After that, the lattice deformation will be induced every time the partial dissipation of the steady-state shock waves takes place until the shock wave is dissipated to elastic mode. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.