Nonpolar GaN substrates grown by ammonothermal method

In this letter, the authors demonstrate large size m-plane GaN substrates grown by ammonothermal method. These substrates have excellent structural quality. The concentration of threading dislocation density is below 5 x 10(4) cm(-2) and the full width at half maximum for the symmetrical and asymmetrical peaks equals 16 and 19 arc sec, respectively. Also good optical quality, the energy gap-related transition is clearly observed at room temperature in photoluminescence and contactless electroreflectance spectra. GaN epilayers deposited on these substrates exhibit intrinsic narrow exciton lines which are very sensitive to the optical selection rules typical for hexagonal symmetry, proving truly nonpolar character of the material. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3227893]