Photoluminescence linewidths in metalorganic vapor phase epitaxially grown ordered and disordered InAlGaP alloys

• DOI: 10.1063/1.352354
• Publication Date: 2002-07-26T13:15:15Z
• Authors: R. P. Schneider; E. D. Jones; J. A. Lott; R. P. Bryan
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

The dependence of the photoluminescent properties of In0.48(AlyGa1−y)0.52P alloys (0≤y≤0.5) on growth temperature and substrate misorientation off GaAs(100) has been studied. Samples were grown using low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. By studying the dependence of ordering behavior in InGaP as a function of substrate misorientation and growth temperature simultaneously, a very large range in low-temperature photoluminescence emission energy—135 meV—has been obtained. The photoluminescence linewidth exhibits a strong, continuous dependence on the extent of atomic ordering (the emission energy) in the alloys. The results indicate that inhomogeneity in the microstructure of the material (i.e., between ‘‘ordered’’ domains and the ‘‘disordered’’ matrix) is the dominant photoluminescence broadening mechanism. This investigation has allowed a significant optimization of the optical properties of these materials, including the narrowest low-temperature photoluminescent linewidths reported for all of the In(AlyGa1−y)P alloys exhibiting direct band gaps (4.2 meV for InGaP).