Controlled intermixing in InGaAsP multiquantum wells by plasma immersion ion implantation of argon

In this paper, the diffusion enhanced intermixing effect in strained InGaAs P multiquantum wells due to plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) of Ar and post-implant annealing is presented. Firstly, we report that a 20 kV A r+ PIII at a fluency of 10(16) cm(-2) together with a furnace anneal at 650 degreesC resulted in an enhanced blue shift in the photoluminescence (PL) peak. It was also found that by varying the Art dose or the implantation en ergy, we could control the extent of the implantation induced intermixing. For a sample that had half of the surface shielded during implantation. a b andgap step was observed between the implanted and non-implanted regions. O ur results indicate that one can use this technique for localised fine-tuni ng of the bandgap energy, thus demonstrating its potential as a processing step for the fabrication of integrated photonic devices. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.