Morphological and chemical instabilities of nitrogen delta-doped GaAs/(Al, Ga)As quantum wells.

The microstructure and the element distribution across tensile-strained nitrogen δ-doped GaAs/(Al,Ga)As quantum wells (QW) are investigated by transmission electron microscopy. We find that the nitrogen sub-monolayer insertion results in a several monolayer thick Ga(As,N) layer with thickness and lateral composition fluctuations. The thickness and composition fluctuations are not arbitrary, but they are anticorrelated, i.e., the Ga(As,N) layer is thinner in areas of higher nitrogen content and vice versa. Thus, regardless of the specific position along the QW, the amount of incorporated nitrogen remains constant and close to its nominal value. The increase in the nitrogen content at the insertion promotes an anisotropic shape transition towards highly faceted three-dimensional structures. Our experimental observations indicate that the two-dimensional to three-dimensional morphological transition is determined by intrinsic factors associated with the different Ga-N and Ga-As bonds and hence occurs regardless of the epitaxial strain state of the layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]