Thermal Annealing of GaInNAs/GaAs Quantum Wells Grown by Chemical Beam Epitaxy and Its Effect on Photoluminescence

Abstract

The thermal annealing effect on the photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) grown by chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) using radical nitrogen is presented. The room-temperature PL peak intensity of GaInNAs/GaAs QWs increased about 70 times and the linewidth of PL spectra decreased after annealing at 675°C for 30 seconds. The blue shift of the PL peak wavelength of GaInNAs/GaAs QWs and GaNAs/GaAs QWs, due to the structural change of QWs was observed. It was found that the blue shift was caused by In–Ga interdiffusion rather than nitrogen atom diffusion. The interdiffusion caused by defects is thought to reduce the number of non radiative centers, resulting in the improvement of PL characteristics. The optimum annealing temperature depends on the composition.

Self-Assembled InAs Quantum Dots in an InGaAsN Matrix on GaAs

“…As is always observed for InGaAsN alloys [8], our structures reach their full optical quality only after annealing. The 3 ML QD structure in In 0.06 Ga 0.94 As 0.98 N 0.02 matrix was annealed ex-situ in a hydrogen atmosphere at 700 C during 15 min.…”

Thermal annealing effect on self‐assembled GaInNAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by chemical beam epitaxy

“…For the same annealing time, higher annealing temperature showed larger blue shift. These tendencies are similar to GaInNAs QWs [17]. Figure 4 shows the annealing condition dependence of PL characteristics for GaInNAs QDs, GaInAs QDs and GaInNAs QWs.…”

“…We have also reported the advantages of a thermal annealing process on the crystal quality of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) [17,18]. The PL intensity was increased by about two orders of magnitude under optimum conditions, and a large blue shift of the peak wavelength was also observed.…”

SPSLs and Dilute-Nitride Optoelectronic Devices

“…Unfortunately, a full understanding of the fundamental nature and behaviour of nitride alloys, especially during the annealing treatments that are required for optimum performance, continues to elude researchers. Certain trends have been identified qualitatively, such as that optimum anneal conditions depend on composition, and more specifically on (2D/3D) growth mode Hierro et al (2003), on nitrogen content Francoeur et al (1998); Loke et al (2002), and on indium content for GaInNAs Kageyama et al (1999), but 'optimum' annealing treatments continue to vary widely, according to growth method, growth conditions, structure and composition. We believe that SPSL structures have an important role to play in such studies.…”