High-resolution X-ray diffraction characterisation of piezoelectric InGaAs / GaAs multiquantum wells and superlattices on (111)B GaAs

In this paper the authors show some examples of strained InGaAs / GaAs multilayers on (111)B GaAs substrates studied by high-resolution X-ray diffractometry. The samples consisted of a multiquantum well or superlattice embedded in the intrinsic region of a p-i-n photodiode. They have analysed piezoelectric (111)B structures with 3, 7, 10, and 40 periods and different indium contents and compared the results with identical structures simultaneously grown on (001) substrates. The interpretation of the diffraction profiles has been carried out with a computer simulation model developed in our labs, which allows the calculation of symmetric and asymmetric reflections regardless of the substrate orientation or miscut angle. The agreement between the experimental scans and the theory was very satisfactory in all the samples, which has enabled us to determine the main structural parameters of the diodes, Asymmetric 224± reflections on (111)B structures have been simulated for the first time. They have also compared the structural parameters obtained by high-resolution X-ray diffractometry with the results deduced from photoluminescence and photocurrent spectroscopies