Photoreflectance and photoluminescence spectroscopy of the lattice-matched InGaAs/InAlAs single quantum well

Abstract

A lattice-matched In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As single quantum well (SQW) structure grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy has been investigated by photoreflectance (PR) and photoluminescence (PL). The PR measurements allowed the observation of interband transitions from the heavy- and light-hole valence subbands to the conduction subbands. The transition energies measured from the PR spectra agree with those calculated theoretically. Two features corresponding to the ground state transition coming from the SQW and the band gap transition generated from the buffer layer are observed in the PL spectra and are in good agreement with the PR data. The effect of the temperature on the transition energies is essentially same as that in the gap transition of the bulk structure. The values of the Varshni coefficients of InGaAs/InAlAs were obtained from the relation between the exciton transition energy and the temperature. The built-in electric field could be determined and located from a series of PR spectra by sequential etching processes. The phase spectra obtained from the PR spectra by the Kramers–Kronig transformation were analyzed in terms of the two-ray model, and calculated the etching depth in each etching, and thus leading to the etching rate. The etching rate obtained from phase shift analysis agrees with that measured by atomic force microscopy. The etching results suggest that a built-in electric field exists at the buffer/substrate interface and it also enables us to determine the etching rate.