Unintentional boron contamination of MBE-grown GaInP/AlGaInP quantum wells

The effects of unintentional boron contamination on optical properties of GaInP/AlGaInP quantum well structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are reported. Photoluminescence and secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurements revealed that the optical activity of boron-contaminated quantum wells is heavily affected by the amount of boron in GaInP/AlGaInP heterostructures. The boron concentration was found to increase when cracking temperature of the phosphorus source was increased. Boron incorporation was enhanced also when aluminum was present in the material.