Electron transport and optical properties of InGaAs quantum wells with quasi-periodic (L0 ∼ 30 nm) interface corrugation grown on vicinal (111)B GaAs

We have grown InGaAs quantum wells (QWs) with quasi-periodic interface corrugation on (111)B misoriented GaAs substrates and studied their transport and optical properties. By atomic force microscopy the corrugation is found to be multiatomic steps of about 30 nm in period and 2 nm in height which lie along the <10 - 1> direction. Electron mobilities mu across the steps at 4.2 K depend strongly on the electron concentration N-s, being proportional to N-s(3.3), and are far smaller than mu along the steps by a factor of 5-10. By comparing these data with theory, mu-N-s characteristics are roughly explained by taking into account both periodic and random scattering components of interface corrugation. Optical properties of a QW with corrugation are also discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.