A study of layer composition of InGaAs/InP multiquantum wells grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using double-crystal x-ray diffraction theory and experiment

InGaAs/InP multiquantum wells grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition have been studied by fitting computer simulated theoretical double-crystal x-ray rocking curves to experimental data. It is shown that the technique can identify the carry over of As into the InP barriers and the concentration and distribution of As are determined. The highest concentration of As observed was 21%, which was confined to the first 50 Å of the barrier and fell to 2% towards the following interface. Both the maximum and minimum concentration of As was found to decrease as a function of the pause time between growth of the InGaAs quantum well and the InP barrier layers. These observations were confirmed by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and other experimental data on the same material is shown to support the results.