Photoluminescence of Al _x Ga_1−x As/GaAs quantum well heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

Nominally undoped Al_xGa_1−xAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy from As₄ species at elevated substrate temperatures of 670°C exhibits well-resolved excitonic fine structure in the low-temperature photoluminescence spectra, if the effective As-to-(Al+Ga) flux ratio on the growth surface is kept within a rather narrow range of clearly As-stabilized conditions. In contrast to previous results on Al_xGa_1−xAs of composition 0.15<x<0.25, the prominent carbon-related recombination at ∼23 meV below the bound exciton line was foundnot to shift in energy by changing the excitation intensity. This implies a simple freeelectron carbon-acceptor recombination mechanism for the line without any participation of a donor. In Al_xGa_1−xAs of composition close to the direct-to-indirect cross-over point, two distinct LO-phonons separated by 34 and 48 meV from the (D ⁰,C ⁰) peak position at x=0.43 were observed which were before only detectable by Raman scattering experiments. The intensity of the carbon-impurity related luminescence lines in bulk-type Al_xGa_1−xAs and GaAs layers was found to be strongly reduced, as compared to the excitonic recombination lines, if the respective active layer was covered by a very thin confinement layer of either GaAs on top of Al_xGa_1−xAs or vice versa grown in the same growth cycle.