The effect of strain on the interdiffusion in InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells

The effect of strain on the cation interdiffusion in InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells is described. It is found that the Fick’s diffusion equation does not properly describe the interdiffusion in the heterostructure with strained layers. It is believed that the strain changes crystal defect concentration and thus diffusivity is influenced by strain. Diffusion equation including the strain effect is formulated and solved numerically. The experimental photoluminescence peak shifts as a function of annealing time are well-fitted by this analysis and useful parameters such as diffusivity describing InGaAs/GaAs quantum well interdiffusion are extracted.