Impurity-induced layer disordering experiments were performed on quantum-well heterostructures which were heavily doped with C. The results showed that the presence of C retarded Al and Ga interdiffusion, as compared with un-doped material. Interdiffusion in C-doped quantum-well heterostructures was not enhanced by the use of a Ga-rich rather than an As-rich annealing ambient. The data were inconsistent with most Fermi-level effect models for layer disordering which did not include a chemical impurity dependence or sub-lattice dependence, and which did not take account of the possibility of inhibited Al and Ga interdiffusion in extrinsic crystals.

L.J.Guido, B.T.Cunningham, D.W.Nam, K.C.Hsieh, W.E.Plano, J.S.Major, E.J.Vesely, A.R.Sugg, N.Holonyak, G.E.Stillman: Journal of Applied Physics, 1990, 67[4], 2179-82