Effects of tensile strain on the optical properties of an AlGaP-based neighbouring confinement structure
The effects of tensile strain on the optical properties of an AlGaP-based neighbouring confinement structure (NCS) grown by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were investigated. Photoluminescence (PL) intensity was remarkably enhanced in the tensile strained NCS compared with the unstrained NCS. Moreover, drastic improvement of the activation energy for thermal quenching was obtained by introducing tensile strain to the NCS. These improvements of the optical properties can be explained in terms of the strain-induced modification of the band structure and/or the local strain fluctuation originating from the alloy randomness of the In composition of the relaxed InGaP buffer layers.