Mj. Romero et al., Cathodoluminescence study of pyramidal facets in piezoelectric InGaAs/GaAsmultiple quantum well pin photodiodes, MICROELEC J, 30(4-5), 1999, pp. 427-431
A study of the optical and electrical activity of defects at the surface of
InGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum well pin photodiodes was done on two differen
t misoriented (111)B GaAs substrates: substrate A, misoriented 1 degrees to
wards [(2) over bar 11] and substrate B, misoriented 2 degrees towards [<2(
11)over bar>]. In this article, we report the existence of different facete
d defects at the surface with the misorientation and their influence on the
optical performance. The surface of photodiodes grown on substrate A shows
inclined pyramids with two enhanced facets. The electron beam induced curr
ent measurements showed that these pyramids act as high efficient collector
of the e-beam excited electron-hole pairs (e-h). This behaviour agrees wit
h the reduction of the cathodoluminescence emission efficiency at the facet
s. In contrast, a different pyramid type with one enhanced facet is observe
d at the surface of diodes grown on substrate B. However, these facets have
not shown either optic or electric activity. In these diodes, the dislocat
ions localised at the active region degrade the device performance acting a
s non-radiative recombination centres. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r
ights reserved.