Relaxation of strain within multilayer InGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic structures

Strained-layer superlattice structures (SLSs) have been grown in InGaAs/GaAs with various GaAs barrier layer thicknesses. Photoluminescence measurements indicate that, in structures with thin barriers, the strained layers interact leading to the relaxation of strain, even though each individual well does not exceed the critical thickness for a single quantum well. These results suggest that a fuller understanding of the mechanisms by which strain relaxes in SLSs is important in order that the constraints on the design of devices using such structures can be known.