Premium
Atomic structure of ‘W’‐type quantum well heterostructures investigated by aberration‐corrected STEM
Author(s) -
KÜKELHAN P.,
BEYER A.,
FUCHS C.,
WESELOH M.J.,
KOCH S.W.,
STOLZ W.,
VOLZ K.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/jmi.12647
Subject(s) - heterojunction , physics , quantum , materials science , chemistry , optoelectronics , quantum mechanics
Summary The atomic structure of (GaIn)As/Ga(AsSb)/(GaIn)As‐‘W’‐type quantum well heterostructures (‘W’‐QWHs) is investigated by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). These structures were grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy and are built for type‐II laser systems in the infrared wavelength regime. For two samples grown at 525°C and 550°C, intensity profiles are extracted from the STEM images for each sublattice separately. These intensity profiles are compared to the one obtained from an image simulation of an ideal ‘W’‐QWH that is modelled in close agreement with the experiment. From the intensity profiles, the width of the different quantum wells (QWs) can be determined. Additionally, characteristics connected to the growth of the structures, such as segregation coefficients and material homogeneity, are calculated. Finally, composition profiles are derived from the STEM intensity profiles to a first approximation. For these composition profiles, the expected photoluminescence (PL) is computed based using the semiconductor luminescence equations. The PL spectra are then compared to experimental measurements for both samples.