Reduced lattice distortion in and near strain-compensated InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple-quantum well structures grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy on GaAs substrates

We have investigated strain-compensated InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple-quantum well (MQW) structures grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy on (001) GaAs substrates, by using photoluminescence (PL) measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that the lattice distortion in and near the MQW structures caused by compressive strain in InGaAs wells was reduced far below the levels of ordinary InGaAs/GaAs MQW structures when tensile-strain InGaAsP barriers were introduced. Furthermore we have fabricated 0.98-μm laser diodes (LDs) with the strain-compensated QW active layer, and found that the mean time to failure of such LDs is expected to be three to four times longer than that of LDs with ordinary GaAs barriers