Formation of strained interfaces in AlSb/InAs multilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy for quantum cascade lasers

Julien Nicolaï (1, 2) , Bénédicte Warot-Fonrose (2) , Christophe Gatel (2) , R. Teissier (3, 4) , A. N. Baranov (3, 4) , Cesar Magen (5) , Anne Ponchet (2, 1)

1 CEMES-SINanO - Surfaces, Interfaces et Nano-Objets
2 CEMES - Centre d'élaboration de matériaux et d'études structurales
3 IES - Institut d’Electronique et des Systèmes
4 NANOMIR - Composants à Nanostructure pour le moyen infrarouge
5 University of Zaragoza - Universidad de Zaragoza [Zaragoza]

Structural and chemical properties of InAs/AlSb interfaces have been studied by transmission electron microscopy. InAs/AlSb multilayers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy with different growth sequences at interfaces. The out-of-plane strain, determined using high resolution microscopy and geometrical phase analysis, has been related to the chemical composition of the interfaces analyzed by High Angle Annular Dark Field imaging. Considering the local strain and chemistry, we estimated the interface composition and discussed the mechanisms of interface formation for the different growth sequences. In particular, we found that the formation of the tensile AlAs-type interface is spontaneously favored due to its high thermal stability compared to the InSb-type interface. We also showed that the interface composition could be tuned using an appropriate growth sequence.

Mots clés: numbers: 6860Bs

Domaines: Electronique

Julien Nicolaï, Bénédicte Warot-Fonrose, Christophe Gatel, R. Teissier, A. N. Baranov, et al.. Formation of strained interfaces in AlSb/InAs multilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy for quantum cascade lasers. Journal of Applied Physics, 2015, 118 (3), pp.035305. ⟨10.1063/1.4926786⟩. ⟨hal-01626271v1⟩