Strain effect and characteristics of GaInP/AlGaInP strain-compensated multiple quantum wells

Ga(0.6)in(0.4)P/(AL(0.8)Ga(0.2))(0.4)In0.6P strain-compensated multiple quantum wells (SCMQW) and Ga0.5In0.5P/(Al0.4Ga0.6)(0.5)In0.5P unstrained MQW were grown by MOVPE to investigate the shift of photoluminescence (PL) peak wavelength and the carrier lifetime caused by strain effect in SCMQW. The PL peaks of SCMQW and unstrained MQW were 608 and 628 nm, respectively. From the rocking curve of SCMQW, it indicated that the active layers of SCMQW were not zero net strain. The residual strain caused the emission intensity of SCMQW to be about four times weaker than that of unstrained MQW. The carrier lifetimes of SCMQW and unstrained MQW were measured to be 3 and 6.02 ns, respectively. It was conjectured that the residual strain in SCMQW induced a decrease in the carrier lifetime by a factor of two with respect to that of unstrained MQW. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.