Electron transport and optical properties of InGaAs quantum wells with quasi-periodic (L0∼30 nm) interface corrugation grown on vicinal (1 1 1)B GaAs

We have grown InGaAs quantum wells (QWs) with quasi-periodic interface corrugation on (1 1 1)B misoriented GaAs substrates and studied their transport and optical properties. By atomic force microscopy the corrugation is found to be multiatomic steps of about View the MathML source in period and View the MathML source in height which lie along the 〈10−1〉 direction. Electron mobilities μ across the steps at View the MathML source depend strongly on the electron concentration Ns, being proportional to Ns3.3, and are far smaller than μ along the steps by a factor of 5–10. By comparing these data with theory, μ–Ns characteristics are roughly explained by taking into account both periodic and random scattering components of interface corrugation. Optical properties of a QW with corrugation are also discussed.