Light emission from InGaAs:Bi/GaAs quantum wells at 1.3 μm

Highly strained InGaAs:Bi quantum wells (QWs) were grown on (001)-oriented GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Photoluminescence (PL) reveals strong improvements in the optical properties evidenced by 10 times enhancement in PL intensity and extended emission wavelength up to 1.29 μm when Bi is introduced to InGaAs/GaAs QWs. The improved optical quality results from the Bi surfactant effect as well as the Bi incorporation. Post growth thermal annealing shows that Bi atoms in InGaAs/GaAs QWs do not show good thermal stability at 650 °C and tend to diffuse out of the QWs resulting in large wavelength blue-shifts.