The metal-assisted photochemical etching of N- and Ga-face GaN epitaxial layers

The results of the study of photochemical etching without the application of external voltage, structures with Ga- and N-polar GaN layers synthesized by molecular beam epitaxy with plasma activation of nitrogen are presented. It is shown that the etching rate of layers with different polarities is very different. In this case, the use of gold-based masks for etching of GaN layers instead of titanium also makes it possible to increase the etching rate of the layers.