On the diffusion of lattice matched InGaAs/InP microstructures

Photoluminescence and high-resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) studies of the diffusion in lattice matched InGaAs/InP quantum wells show that at high temperatures intermixing can be modeled by Fick's law with an identical diffusion rate for both the group III and group V sublattices. This results in materials that remain lattice matched for all compositions created by the diffusion. At lower temperatures, the photoluminescence shows that the diffusion process changes and HRXRD shows that strained layers are produced within the structure. This may be due to the presence of the miscibility gap within the InGaAsP phase diagram. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.