Etching for GaN laser facets and material characterization

The ability to remove or etch surface materials is a fundamental device processing step, and as an example, this is required to obtain mesa stripes in laser diode fabrication. In addition, etching can be utilized to realize laser facets as an alternative to cleaving. This is particularly important for GaN-based laser diodes. We will describe and present results on the wide range of dry and wet etching techniques that have been developed for GaN-based materials over the last few years.