In this study, polarized reflection and emission spectroscopy was employed in order to describe experimentally and numerically the coherent behavior of surface plasmon phonon polaritons in shallow n-type gallium nitride grating. For the grating with a $1\hspace{0.17em}\mu$ m depth and an $11\hspace{0.17em}\mu$ m period, polariton coherence was observed measuring the reduction of the linewidth and the redshift of the resonance position in both reflection and emission spectra with the increase in the incident angle. Maximum coherence conditions were found at a frequency of 562 cm⁻¹ and an angle of 37°, demonstrating the coherence length value up to 724 μm (41λ).

Unscreened (ungated) plasmons in large-area grating-gate AlGaN/GaN heterostructures were studied experimentally by Fourier-transform spectroscopy. Special attention was paid to the recently discovered THz plasmonic crystal modes observed at totally depleted gated regions when plasma oscillations were localized only in ungated parts of the grating-gate structures. The frequency of these modes is still gate voltage-dependent in the limited range due to the depletion of the ungated parts located close to the gate edges. Double gate structures with an additional bottom gate were fabricated and studied to improve the gate voltage tunability of the unscreened plasmons. Since this gate is located deep below the channel, the plasmons behaved as ungated ones, but their frequency still could be tuned by this bottom gate. We show that the combined effect of the top and bottom gates allows the efficient tuning of terahertz frequencies of unscreened modes in the grating-gate AlGaN/GaN plasmonic crystals.

The impact of wet treatment using an (NH₄)₂S-alcohol solution on the interface state of the p-GaN/Ni/Au/Pt contact system and laser diode processing was investigated. Sulfur wet cleaning resulted in reduced surface roughness and contact resistivity. The lowest specific contact resistance (ρ_c < 1 × 10⁻⁴ Ω·cm²) was achieved with samples treated with an (NH₄)₂S-isopropanol solution, whereas the highest resistivity (ρ_c = 3.3 × 10⁻⁴ Ω·cm²) and surface roughness (R_a = 16 nm) were observed in samples prepared by standard methods. Annealing the contact system in an N₂ + O₂ + H₂O atmosphere caused degradation through species inter-diffusion and metal-metal solid solution formation, irrespective of the preparation method. Standard prepared substrates developed a thin GaN-Au intermediate layer at the interface after heat treatment. Enhanced adhesion and the absence of GaN decomposition were observed in samples additionally cleaned with the (NH₄)₂S-solvent solution. Complete oxidation of nickel to NiO was observed in samples that underwent additional sulfur solution treatment. The intensity of metal species mixing and nickel oxidation was influenced by the metal diffusion rate and was affected by the initial state of the GaN substrate obtained through different wet treatment methods.