Eur. Phys. J. B 56, 217-222 (2007)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2007-00105-8

Residual strain measurements in InGaAs metamorphic buffer layers on GaAs

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica “A. Volta” and CNISM, Università di Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
² CNR-IMEM Institute, Parco delle Scienze 37a, 43100 Parma, Italy
³ Dipartimento di Fisica and CNISM, Università di Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy

Corresponding author: ^a bellani@unipv.it

Received: 28 November 2006
Revised: 8 March 2007
Published online: 13 April 2007

Abstract

This work deals with the strain relaxation mechanism in InGaAs metamorphic buffers (MBs) grown on GaAs substrates and overgrown by InAs quantum dots (QD). The residual strain is measured by using Raman scattering and X-ray diffraction, both in Reciprocal Space Map and in single ω-2θ scan modes (ω and θ being the incidence angles on the sample surface and on the scattering planes, respectively). By relating the GaAs-like longitudinal optical phonon frequency ω^LO of InGaAs MBs to the in-plane residual strain ε measured by means of photoreflectance (PR), the linear ε-vs.-ω^LO working curve is obtained. The results of Raman and XRD measurements, as well as those obtained by PR, are in a very satisfactory agreement. The respective advantages of the techniques are discussed. The measurements confirm that strain relaxation depends on the thickness t of the buffer layer following a ~t^-1/2 power law, that can be explained by an energy-balance model.