AbstractSil-xGex/Si(100) single quantum well samples were grown by MBE with x varying from 18.5% to 36%, well widths Lz from 1.1 nm to 175 nm, and growth temperatures To in the range from 350°C to 750°C. We studied the photoluminescence (PL) properties in detail using Fourier transform spectroscopy. In most of the samples, the dominant and phononresolved SiGe band edge PL exhibits exclusively free exciton luminescence even at sample temperatures as low as 2 K. From the absence of bound excitons we conclude that the background concentration of shallow impurities is low in our SiGe layers. Variation of the growth temperature of the Si cap layer strongly influences the efficiency of the SiGe band edge PL at higher temperatures, whereas the PL efficiency is less affected at T=4 K. This indicates a reduction of the concentration of non-radiative defects in the cap layer when it is grown at higher temperatures. A broad PL band 150 meV below the SiGe bandgap, supposed to be typical for MBE-grown material, is weakly observed in only a few samples. The strength of the broad PL band does not unambiguously depend on the strain energy density in the SiGe layer as recently suggested.
Optical properties of c-Plane InGaN/GaN single quantum wells as a function of total electric field strength
