Two In diffusion mechanisms were considered that were present during the rapid thermal annealing of InxGa1–xAs quantum wells (x = 0.18, 0.22, and 0.26) with GaNyAs1–y barriers (y = 0.6 or 1.2%). Samples were grown with and without a GaAs spacer layer between the quantum well and the barrier. The dominant mechanism was dependent upon the amount of thermal energy applied during the annealing process. At low annealing times and temperatures, it was observed that In-Ga intra-diffusion entirely within the quantum well was dominant. For the higher times and temperatures, In-Ga inter-diffusion between the quantum well and barrier became dominant. These observations were confirmed by high-resolution X-ray diffraction and the peak emission wavelengths were measured by room-temperature photoluminescence. It was also observed that N had diffused from the GaNAs barriers into the InGaAs quantum wells in all of the annealed samples. In addition, the commonly observed In-content dependent diffusion in GaInNAs-based systems was not observed in InGaAs/GaNAs-based structures.

Diffusion Mechanisms of Indium and Nitrogen during the Annealing of InGaAs Quantum Wells with GaNAs Barriers and GaAs Spacer Layers. M.M.Oye, S.Govindaraju, R.Sidhu, J.M.Reifsnider, A.L.Holmes: Applied Physics Letters, 2005, 86[15], 151903 (3pp)