Patent ID: 7795146

Claim:
A method of etching thin epitaxially-grown nitride layers, comprising: (a) selecting a suitable template or substrate; (b) implanting the template or substrate with foreign ions over a desired area to create ion implanted material; (c) performing a regrowth of a nitride device structure on the implanted template or substrate; (d) bonding an exposed growth surface of the nitride device structure to a carrier wafer, so that the nitride device structure is positioned between the carrier wafer and the implanted template or substrate, to create a bonded nitride device structure/carrier wafer structure; and (e) exposing the ion implanted material on the bonded nitride device structure/carrier wafer structure to a suitable etchant for a sufficient time to remove the ion implanted material from a surface of the implanted template or substrate opposite the nitride device structure, so that the surface of the implanted template or substrate is planar on a nanometer scale.