Influence of strain relaxation on structural and optical characteristics of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells with high indium composition

Influence of strain relaxation on structural and optical properties of the InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with high indium composition grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition was investigated. From photoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we found that within the MQWs, the formation of misfit dislocation affects the degradation of optical properties more than the formation of stacking faults. For the MQWs with indium composition above the critical indium composition on the formation of misfit dislocation, the position of the main emission peak is significantly affected by the increase of quantum well numbers compared to samples with indium composition below the critical indium composition. The origins of redshift by the increase of quantum well numbers is believed to be caused by the increase of indium segregation in the MQWs using high-resolution TEM and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.