Chemical beam epitaxy and structural analysis of InAs/InP strained single- and multiquantum well heterostructures

Chemical beam epitaxy growth of pseudomorphically strained InAs/InP (3.1% lattice mismatch) multiquantum wells (SMQW) is studied. Structural properties are investigated as a function of growth temperature within a range of 420–540 °C. The influence of growth interruptions under As flow on the InP interface during the growth of these heterostructures on the interface sharpness is also studied. The interface sharpness when using minimal interruptions, determined through high-resolution x-ray-diffraction analysis of thin (few monolayers) InAs single- and multi-quantum well structures results in less than 1 monolayer roughness over a wide range of growth temperatures (420–490 °C) and high-quality SMQW’s and superlattices were achieved in this manner. Finally the analysis of our data suggests that a small uniform As incorporation (0.6%–1%) in the InP barriers (and buffers) occurs in all the samples presented in this paper. The presence of this As memory effect in the grown heterostructures is related to a much higher As incorporation rate compared to that of P.