Description

Self-assembled defect generation with hexagonal symmetry in a gallium nitride crystal where the growth has gone terribly and beautifully wrong. This image was taken using a scanning electron microscope equipped with cathode-luminescence spectroscopy. The 5 keV energetic incident electron beam generates electron hole pairs in the sample which then recombine to emit photons. Dark areas in the image correspond to defects known as dislocations where radiative emission does not occur.