A solution for reducing a number of dislocations in an active region of an emitting device is provided. A dislocation bending structure can be included in the emitting device between the substrate and the active region. The dislocation bending structure can be configured to cause dislocations to bend and/or annihilate prior to reaching the active region, e.g., due to the presence of a sufficient amount of strain. The dislocation bending structure can include a plurality of layers with adjacent layers being composed of a material, but with molar fractions of an element in the respective material differing between the two layers. The dislocation bending structure can include at least forty pairs of adjacent layers having molar fractions of an element differing by at least five percent between the adjacent layers.