The effect of rapid thermal annealing upon the optical properties of strained single quantum wells was studied by means of low-temperature photoluminescence techniques. The structures were prepared by direct-current active N plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The annealing temperatures and times were varied from 650 to 850C and from 30s to 0.25h. Marked improvements in the optical properties were observed after rapid thermal annealing under optimum conditions. The interdiffusion constants, as calculated by taking account of error-function diffusion and solving the Schrödinger equation, were estimated to be between 10-17 and 10-16cm2/s (figure 2) under the above annealing conditions; with activation energies of between 6 and 7eV.

Effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing on the Optical Properties of GaAsN/GaAs Single Quantum Well Structure Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy L.H.Li, Z.Pan, W.Zhang, Y.W.Lin, Z.Q.Zhou, R.H.Wu: Journal of Applied Physics, 2000, 87[1], 245-8

Figure 2

Interdiffusivity of GaAs and GaAsN