Crystallographic wet chemical etching of III-nitride material

A method of processing a III-Nitride epitaxial layer system provided on a substrate to produce a laser diode, comprising:

• reactive etching said III-Nitride epitaxial layer system to a selected depth;
• and
• crystailographically etching said epitaxial layer system in order to obtain substantially atomically smooth vertical surfaces.

A method of processing a III-Nitride epitaxial layer system provided on a substrate to produce a bipolar transistor, comprising:

• photoenhanced wet etching said III-Nitride epitaxial layer system to a selected depth;
• and
• crystallographically etching said epitaxial layer system in order to obtain undercut walls and substantially atomically smooth surfaces.

A method of processing a III-Nitride epitaxial layer system comprising:

• providing a III-Nitride epitaxial layer system on a substrate;
• and
• wet chemical crystallographic etching said epitaxial layer system along non-c-plane crystal directions.

A method of processing a III-Nitride epitaxial layer system comprising:

• providing a III-Nitride epitaxial layer system on a substrate;
• and
• crystallographically etching said epitaxial layer system by immersing said epitaxial layer system into a liquid chemical.

A method of processing a GaN layer in order to produce semiconductor laser facets comprising:

• providing a GaN on a substrate;
• and
• wet chemical crystallographic etching said GaN layer in order to obtain substantially atomically flat surfaces.