Effect of fast thermal annealing on the optical spectroscopy in MBE- and CBE-grown GaInNAs/GaAs QWs: blue shift versus red shift

An investigation is presented of thermal annealing effects on spectral photoconductivity and photoluminescence in sequentially grown GaInNAs/GaAs and GaInAs/GaAs quantum well structures. Experiments have been carried out at temperatures between 30 K and 300 K. The results indicate that thermal annealing improves the optical quality of GaInNAs, but may cause either a blue shift, as commonly observed by other groups, or a red shift depending on the growth technique. The anneal-induced blue-shift behaviour can be explained in terms of two competing mechanisms involving the redistribution of nearest-neighbour configuration and the change of quantum well profile. The red shift is explained in terms of hydrogen-induced chemical effects.