Critical layer thickness in In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs single strained quantum well structures

We report accurate determination of the critical layer thickness (CLT) for single strained-layer epitaxy in the InGaAs/GaAs system. Our samples were molecular beam epitaxially grown, selectively doped, single quantum well structures comprising a strained In0.2Ga0.8As layer imbedded in GaAs. We determined the CLT by two sensitive techniques: Hall-effect measurements at 77 K and photoluminescence microscopy. Both techniques indicate a CLT of about 20 nm. This value is close to that determined previously (∼15 nm) for comparable strained-layer superlattices, but considerably less than the value of ∼45 nm suggested by recent x-ray rocking-curve measurements. We show by a simple calculation that photoluminescence microscopy is more than two orders of magnitude more sensitive to dislocations than x-ray diffraction. Our results re-emphasize the necessity of using high-sensitivity techniques for accurate determination of critical layer thicknesses.