Effect of bismuth surfactant on InP-based highly strained InAs/InGaAs triangular quantum wells

We report the effect of Bi surfactant on the properties of highly strained InAs/InGaAs triangular quantum wells grown on InP substrates. Reduced surface roughness, improved heterostructure interfaces and enhanced photoluminescence intensity at 2.2 μm are observed by moderate Bi-mediated growth. The nonradiative processes are analysed based on temperature-dependent photoluminescence. It is confirmed that Bi incorporation is insignificant in the samples, whereas excessive Bi flux during the growth results in deteriorated performance. The surfactant effect of Bi is promising to improve InP-based highly strained structures while the excess of Bi flux needs to be avoided.