Characterization by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy of GaInAs and GaAsN single layers and quantum wells grown on GaAs

Experiments were performed on thick GaInAs and GaAsN layers and on GaInAs quantum wells grown on (111)B and (0 001) GaAs substrates. The aim of this work is to develop an experimental procedure in order to evaluate the chemical compositions and relaxation state of the samples at global as well as nanometre scale. Chemical analyses (EDS, RBS, etc.), X-ray diffraction (reciprocal space map, sin(2)psi, etc.) and XTEM were carried out. The validity of the sin(2)psi method on the above mentioned thin layers has been tested. Good accuracy is obtained for In and N composition but more work has to be done in order to optimize the determination of the relaxation state. Coupling TEM observations to these calculations gives valuable information on the relaxation mechanisms (misfit dislocations, stacking faults, microtwins, etc.). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.