AUGER RECOMBINATION IN STRAINED QUANTUM-WELLS

A nonthreshold mechanism for Auger recombination of nonequilibrium car riers in quantum wells with strained layers is investigated theoretica lly. It is shown that the dependence of the Auger recombination rate o n the magnitude of the strain and the height of the heterobarriers for electrons and holes can be analyzed only by calculating the overlap i ntegrals between initial and final particle states microscopically. In quantum wells with strained layers the presence of strain affects qua litatively and quantitatively the electron-hole overlap integral. The dependence of the Auger recombination rate on the quantum well paramet ers, the magnitude of the stress, and temperature are analyzed for het erostructures based on InGaAsP/InP and InGaAlAs/InP. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.