Photoluminescence and the gallium problem for highest-mobility GaAs/AlGaAs-based 2d electron gases

The quest for extremely high mobilities of 2d electron gases in MBE-grown heterostructures is hampered by the available purity of the starting materials, particularly of the gallium. Here we compare the role of different Ga lots having nominally the highest possible quality on the mobility and the photoluminescence (PL) of modulation doped single interface structures and find significant differences. A weak exciton PL reveals that the purity of the Ga is insufficient. No high mobility can be reached with such a lot with a reasonable effort. On the other hand, a strong exciton PL indicates a high initial Ga purity, allowing to reach mobilities of 15 million (single interface) or 28 million cm2/V s (doped quantum wells) in our MBE systems. We discuss possible origins of the inconsistent Ga quality. Furthermore, we compare samples grown in different MBE systems over a period of several years and find that mobility and PL are correlated if similar structures and growth procedures are used.