It was recalled that transient-enhanced intermixing occurred in As-rich non-stoichiometric AlAs/GaAs quantum wells which were grown at a substrate temperature of 300C. The intermixing was attributed to a supersaturated concentration of group-III vacancies, and was enhanced by several orders of magnitude relative to diffusion in stoichiometric structures which were grown at ordinary substrate temperatures. It was established that the decay of the excess vacancy concentration satisfied second-order decay kinetics, with a confidence level of 80%.

Vacancy Diffusion Kinetics in Arsenic-Rich Non-Stoichiometric AlAs/GaAs Heterostructures. S.Balasubramanian, S.W.Mansour, M.R.Melloch, D.D.Nolte: Physical Review B, 2001, 63[3], 033305 (3pp)