A detailed analysis of morphology of gallium nitride crystal growth obtained by ammonothermal and halide vapor phase epitaxy methods was carried out. The work was conducted to determine the source of triangular planar defects visible in X-ray topography as areas with locally different lattice parameters. It is shown that the occurrence of these defects is related to growth hillocks. Particular attention was paid to analyzing the manner and consequences of merging hillocks. In the course of the study, the nature of the mentioned defects and the cause of their formation were determined. It was established that the appearance of the defects depends on the angle formed between the steps located on the sides of two adjacent hillocks. A universal growth model is presented to explain the cause of heterogeneity during the merging of growth hillocks.
Keywords: GaN; basic ammonothermal method; crystal growth; growth model; growth morphology; halide vapor phase epitaxy.