Patent ID: 8247314

Claim:
A method for forming a III-nitride semiconductor structure, the semiconductor structure comprising an initial III-nitride surface having a plurality of emergent dislocations, the method comprising exposing the initial surface to a sequence of epitaxial growth conditions selected so as to encourage: opening of growth pits in an intermediate III-nitride layer growing on the initial surface, the growth pits being associated with the surface dislocations in the initial III-nitride surface; intersection of two or more of the growth pits opened in the growing intermediate layer into agglomerations of growth pits; and lateral growth of a following III-nitride layer to enclose some or all of the growth pits and the agglomerations of growth pits, wherein the lateral growth continues at least until the following layer has substantially continuous lateral extent, wherein the following layer is formed with a dislocation density that is less than that of the initial surface, and wherein the lateral growth nucleates from portions of growth pits, and agglomerations of growth pits, not covered by a discontinuous layer of a dielectric masking material.