We fabricated an air-tunnel structure between a gallium nitride (GaN) layer and trapezoid-patterned sapphire substrate (TPSS) through the in situ carbonization of a photoresist layer to enable rapid chemical lift-off (CLO). A trapezoid-shaped PSS was used, which is advantageous for epitaxial growth on the upper c-plane when forming an air tunnel between the substrate and GaN layer. The upper c-plane of the TPSS was exposed during carbonization. This was followed by selective GaN epitaxial lateral overgrowth using a homemade metal organic chemical vapor deposition system. The air tunnel maintained its structure under the GaN layer, whereas the photoresist layer between the GaN layer and TPSS disappeared. The crystalline structures of GaN (0002) and (0004) were investigated using X-ray diffraction. The photoluminescence spectra of the GaN templates with and without the air tunnel showed an intense peak at 364 nm. The Raman spectroscopy results for the GaN templates with and without the air tunnel were redshifted relative to the results for free-standing GaN. The CLO process using potassium hydroxide solution neatly separated the GaN template with the air tunnel from the TPSS.
Keywords: chemical lift-off; gallium nitride; trapezoid-patterned sapphire substrate.