The effects of the substrate misorientation upon layer uniformity and dislocation formation in InGaAs single quantum wells were studied by comparing layers that had been grown onto vicinal and nominal GaAs substrates using various In contents and thicknesses. It was found that the layers which were grown onto vicinal substrates had a much higher density of misfit and threading dislocations, and dislocation loops which bowed into the substrate. They also exhibited large terraces at the GaAs/InGaAs interface; with associated lateral and vertical compositional inhomogeneities that depended upon the In content. It was suggested that such inhomogeneities could favor the generation of dislocations within the well.

C.Frigeri, A.Di Paola, D.M.Ritchie, F.Longo, A.Brinciotti, M.Riva, F.Vidimari: Solid State Phenomena, 1996, 47-48, 553-8