HIGHLY STRAINED INGAASP FILMS WITH HIGH CRITICAL THICKNESSES

Elastically strained InGaAsP films with band gaps from 1.4 to 1.8 eV w ere grown on GaAs(111)B substrates by liquid phase epitaxy. For elasti c strains up to 1% the critical thicknesses of the films substantially exceeded the predictions of the energy equilibrium theory by Matthews and Blakeslee. Among the various stress-relieving mechanisms proposed in the literature a stress-induced surface roughening has been found to be most relevant in our case. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physic s.