Effect of boron incorporation on the structural and photoluminescence properties of highly-strained InxGa1-xAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells

In this research, 5-period highly-strained BInGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) have been successfully grown at 480-510ºC by LP-MOCVD. Room-temperature photoluminescence (RT-PL) measurements of BInGaAs/GaAs MQWs showed the peak wavelength as long as 1.17 μm with full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of only 29.5 meV. In addition, a slight blue-shift (∼18 meV) of PL peak energy of InxGa1-xAs/GaAs MQWs was observed after boron incorporation. It has been found boron incorporation (<2%) was mainly dominated by a negative effect even though it can effectively reduce the compressive strain, i.e., it degraded the structural properties and PL efficiency of MQWs containing relatively less indium. Only at the lowest temperature growth (i.e., indium content x > 40%), the positive effect of boron incorporation prevailed, i.e., boron incorporation completely suppressed the thickness undulation and lead to the improvement of PL properties.