Epitaxial layers of AlGaN were grown by hot-wall MOCVD and their surfaces wet chemically etched with phosphorous acid. The as-grown surfaces and the development of the etched surfaces after 10 and 20 min of etching were studied with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and CL. In the as-grown layers growth features may be resolved while the RMS is as low as 1.4 Å in a scan area of 2×2 μm. Surfaces etched for 10 min had developed etch pits and a low RMS roughness of 7 Å indicating a uniform quality of the layers. Micrometer scale hexagonal features were observed after 20 min of etching. In some cases a deep hexagonal etch pit is observed in the centre of the hexagonal feature with a 30° rotation to each other, suggesting that the origin is substrate-induced defects. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.