Effects of N incorporation on the structural and photoluminescence characteristics of GaSbN/GaSb single quantum wells.

The structural and optical properties of GaSbN single quantum wells grown on GaSb substrates by solid source molecular beam epitaxy have been investigated for N concentrations up to 1.5%. The presence of well-resolved and pronounced Pendellosung fringes, dynamical diffraction rods seen in the corresponding reciprocal space map, and triple-axis x-ray full width at half maximum of 10–11 arcsec of the substrate and epilayer peak indicates epilayers of excellent quality with smooth interfaces. Low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) exhibited sharp and discrete N-related PL line features below the GaSb band edge. Their dependence on N concentration as well as measurement temperature and excitation intensity of the PL strongly suggests that these lines correspond to highly localized N pair/cluster states. No significant effect of in situ annealing in Sb ambient on the PL features was observed, while ex situ annealing in N ambient led to the annihilation of these features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]