Low-temperature growth of high-quality a-plane GaN epitaxial films on lattice-matched LaAlO3 substrates

Nonpolar GaN demonstrates a significant potential for application in the field of light-emitting diodes, polarization sensitive detectors, etc. However, the achievement of the high-quality nonpolar GaN epitaxial films still faces significant challenges. In this study, the high-quality nonpolar a-plane GaN epitaxial films have been obtained on the lattice-matched LaAlO3(100) substrates through the low-temperature pulsed laser deposition. The ~500 nm-thick nonpolar a-plane epitaxial films grown at 450 °C exhibit small full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 0.15° and 0.20° for GaN(11–20) and GaN(10–11) for the X-ray rocking curves, respectively, and very smooth surface with a root-mean-square roughness of 1.2 nm. In addition, sharp and abrupt GaN/LaAlO3 hetero-interfaces are observed. The developed GaN epitaxial films present strong potential of application in the field of UV detection and curing in the near future. •Nonpolar a-plane GaN grown on LaAlO3 substrate has been achieved.•Effect of growth temperature on the properties of nonpolar a-plane GaN is well studied.•The sharp and abrupt GaN/LaAlO3 hetero-interfaces have been obtained.