MOVPE growth of strained InGaAsN/GaAs quantum wells

The strained In_0.13Ga_0.7As_1-xN_x (x = 0-0.01)/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) with 10 nm well thicknesses were grown by MOVPE at 500°C using dimethylhydrazine (DMHy) as the nitrogen source. The nitrogen was nonlinearly incorporated into the solid by increasing the partial pressure of DMHy in the vapor phase. The peak energy of photoluminescence (PL) was red-shifted by increasing the composition of nitrogen up to x =0.002 and showed a large band-gap bowing of - 82 eV. The as-grown In_0.3Ga_0.7As_0.99N_0.01 QW had a weak PL intensity of more than two orders of magnitude lower than that of In_0.3Ga_0.7As QW, but by annealing in a N₂ atmosphere at 650°C, the PL intensity recovered and peaked at 1.26 μm at 10 K. The PL recovery seems to have been related to the depassivation of hydrogen. From a SIMS analysis, the as-grown In_0.3Ga_0.7As_0.99N_0.01 QW showed a hydrogen concentration as high as 6 × 10¹⁹ cm^-3, but decreased to 2.5 × 10¹⁹ cm^-3 after annealing in N₂ for 1 h.