Comparison of optical and structural quality of GaIn(N) As analog and digital quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy

A set of Ga0.625In0.375(N) As single quantum well (QW) samples with the identical total amounts of Ga and In and QW thicknesses was designed and grown by both the analog and the digital methods using molecular beam epitaxy. The N exposure time in the GaInNAs samples was kept the same. The inter-band gap recombination in the analog and the digital InGaAs QWs appears in a similar transition energy range as a result of In segregation. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurements were performed on the GaInNAs samples. An 'S-shaped' dependence of the transition energy on temperature was observed in the digital GaInNAs QWs but not in the analog GaInNAs QW. Post-growth rapid thermal annealing had remarkably different effects on the PL intensity: an increase for the analog InGaAs QW and for the analog and digital GaInNAs QWs, but a decrease for the digital InGaAs QW with increasing annealing temperature. The GaIn(N) As samples grown by the digital method showed weaker PL intensities and smaller wavelength blue-shifts than the similar samples grown by the analog method. Possible strain relaxation mechanisms are discussed.