We studied the effect of extended defects on electrical characteristics of Si doped n-type nonpolar a-plane GaN films. The n-type GaN layers were grown on co-loaded reduced defect density sidewall lateral epitaxial overgrowth (SLEO) a-plane GaN templates and high defect density planar a-plane GaN templates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The highest conductivity value was observed at the carrier concentration of 1.05 × 1019 cm−3 as 261.12 cm2/Vs for SLEO a-GaN and 106.77 cm2/Vs for the planar a-plane GaN samples. At the same doping level, the carrier compensation for SLEO samples was ∼12% less than planar samples.

By compositionally grading AlGaN layers over different thicknesses, high mobility electron gases are produced by polarization-induced doping. Temperature dependent Hall and capacitance-voltage measurements were performed on these AlGaN layers, and two degrees of freedom are found for choosing the carrier concentration of these slabs. Carrier mobilities determined from Hall measurements are observed to be much higher than impurity doped structures of similar carrier densities. Alloy and phonon scattering are determined to be the major contributors limiting the mobility of the electron in the graded layers. This form of polarization-induced doping offers an attractive alternative to the traditional doping techniques, and may be used for highly conductive AlGaN layers with high Al composition, both for lateral and vertical transport.