Experimental studies of misfit dependence of critical layer thickness in pseudomorphic InGaAs single-strained quantum-well structures

Abstract

The dependence of critical layer thickness on a misfit in pseudomorphic GaAs/InGaAs/GaAs single quantum-well structures grown by molecular-beam epitaxy is studied using a phase-contrast optical microscope and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The results show that the critical layer thickness as a function of misfit follows more closely with Matthews and Blakeslee’s mechanical equilibrium model [J. Cryst. Growth 27, 118 (1974)] than People and Bean’s energy balance model [Appl. Phys. Lett. 49, 229 (1986)]. However, the observed critical layer thickness is slightly less than that predicted by the mechanical equilibrium model for single quantum-well structures.