Photoluminescence measurements were used to investigate C impurity effects upon the intermixing behavior of multiple quantum wells which had been grown by means of molecular beam epitaxy. The wells were furnace annealed, with a C source. The photoluminescence spectra revealed that the degree of intermixing of Al and Ga, which was induced by thermal annealing, increased with depth. This behavior did not agree with intermixing mechanisms which considered vacancy injection of the surface. The non-uniformity of intermixing as a function of depth was attributed to the effect of C impurities which were injected during heat treatment.

Y.T.Oh, S.K.Kim, Y.H.Kim, T.W.Kang, C.Y.Hong, T.W.Kim: Journal of Applied Physics, 1995, 77[6], 2415-8