Abstract
The freestanding GaN substrates were grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) on (0001) sapphire substrate and prepared by using laser induced lift-off. After a mechanical polishing on both Ga and N-surfaces of GaN films with 100$\mu\textrm{m}$ thick, their polarities have been investigated by using chemical etching in phosphoric acid solution, 3 dimensional surface profiler and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The composition of the GaN film measured by AES indicted that Ga and N terminated surfaces have the different N/Ga peak ratio of 0.74 and 0.97, respectively. Ga-face and N-face of GaN revealed quite different chemical properties: the polar surfaces corresponding to (0001) plane are resistant to a phosphoric acid etching whereas N-polar surfaces corresponding to(0001) are chemically active.