Organometallic chemical vapor deposition of V-groove InGaAs/GaAs quantum wires incorporated in planar Bragg microcavities

We report the fabrication and the optical properties of dense arrays of str ained InGaAs/GaAs V-groove quantum wires (QWRs) embedded in wavelength size planar Bragg microcavities, made using a two-step organometallic chemical vapor deposition (OMCVD). Growth front evolution and top surface morphology of GaAs on the corrugated substrate were investigated as a function of the growth temperature (550-625 degrees C) and the pitch of the V-groove grati ng (3-0.25 mu m). Based on these studies, a growth temperature of 550 degre es C and a grating pitch of 0.25 mu m were selected to achieve sizes compat ible with simultaneous quantum confinement for electron (approximate to 10 nm wide wires) and photon (approximate to 0.25 mu m thick cavities) states. Reference arrays of uniform, nanometer-size, crescent-shaped, InGaAs QWRs with densities up to 4QWRs/mu m were realized, exhibiting a narrow (8 meV) and intense emission from one-dimensional excitonic states at low temperatu re. Similar QWRs were then successfully embedded in planar microcavities, s howing brighter (x 50) emission with a strongly reduced linewidth (1 meV) d ue to resonant coupling between the wire emission and the microcavity modes . (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.