Morphology evolution in strain-compensated multiple quantum well structures

Morphology evolution in (In,Ga)As-Ga(As,P) strain-compensated multilayer structures is studied. The effects of nanoscale interface corrugation and phase separation are evident after the third period of the multilayer structure and become more pronounced with each new stack until the sixth period. Then, the interface stabilizes pointing to the formation of strain-balanced equilibrium interface structure. The epitaxial structure remains defect-free up to the maximum number (twenty) of periods studied. In a structure with a high lattice mismatch between the neighboring layers, In0.40Ga0.60As/GaAs0.85P0.15, clusters of dislocations are revealed already in the third period. The observed phenomena are critical for proper engineering of optoelectronic devices. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.