Single quantum wells with the composition, Ga0.82In0.18As/GaAs, were grown onto GaAs (111)A substrates which were 1 and 5 misoriented towards [110] and [001], and onto (100)-oriented substrates. The photoluminescence peaks of single quantum wells which had been grown onto exact or misoriented (111)A substrates exhibited a large full-width at half-maximum and red-shift, when compared with calculated values. It was suggested that a quantum-confined Stark effect which was due to strain-induced electric fields was the main cause of this red-shift in samples which had been grown onto (111)A substrates that were misoriented by 5 towards [001]. Larger red-shifts which were observed in samples that had been grown onto the other (111)A substrates were attributed to strain relaxation. A strain relaxation mechanism that involved the appearance of coherent islands (when GaInAs growth began) and the appearance of misfit dislocations (when the islands coalesced) provided a qualitative explanation for the observations.

P.O.Vaccaro, M.Takahashi, K.Fujita, T.Watanabe: Journal of Applied Physics, 1994, 76[12], 8037-41