Chemical mechanical polishing for decoration and measurement of dislocations on freestanding GaN wafers

The dislocation density in freestanding gallium nitride wafers was measured using atomic force microscope (AFM) imaging of chemical mechanically polished (CMP) samples and with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Etch pits were introduced after chemical mechanical polishing of the gallium side of the GaN wafer and the pits easily imaged with the AFM. TEM was also utilized to measure the dislocation density. Good agreement was found between the dislocation density measured by TEM and the etch pit density measured by AFM, demonstrating that chemical mechanical polish of the GaN(0001) surface decorates threading dislocations and that the AFM technique provides a reasonably accurate and convenient measure of the dislocation density.