Anisotropic morphology of nonpolar a-plane GaN quantum dots and quantum wells

The growth of (11-20) or a-plane quantum dots and quantum wells by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy has been studied. It is shown that Ga-rich conditions lead to the formation of quantum dots, whereas quantum wells are obtained in N-rich conditions. Combining various experimental techniques, it is furthermore demonstrated that quantum dot nucleation along [1-100] and quantum well morphology in the (1-100) plane are influenced by anisotropic growth of AlN buffer layer. Moreover, it is established that peculiar morphological features of quantum dots and quantum wells, in particular the asymmetric shape of quantum dots, are related to the polar character of the [0001] direction in wurtzite nitride material