Effects of nitrogen incorporation on the properties of GaInNAs quantum well structures

Journal article, 2005

We report results from theoretical and experimental investigations of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well structures. Optical transition energies for samples with different In and N concentrations were determined by photoluminescence measurements. The results show that the reduction of the ground-state transition energy by the introduction of N decreases with increasing In concentration. The experimental data are compared with calculations using the effective-mass approximation. Modifications of the band-gap energy due to N incorporation were accounted for using the two-level repulsion model. Proper effective-mass and band offset values, based on recent experimental work, were used. Calculated and measured transition energies show good agreement. The critical thickness, lattice constant, strain, and optical transition energies are discussed for GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well structures tuned for emission at 1.3 and 1.55 µm, in particular. Such a simple model, within the effective-mass approximation, is a very useful guide for device design.