STRAIN-INDUCED HEAVY-HOLE-TO-LIGHT-HOLE ENERGY SPLITTING IN (111)B PSEUDOMORPHIC INYGA1-YAS QUANTUM-WELLS

Experimental investigation of the energy-band structure of (111)B and (100) InyGa1-yAs quantum wells demonstrates that the strain-induced heavy-hole to light-hole energy splitting is considerably larger for (111)B pseudomorphic layers than for otherwise identical (100) structures. In general, the measured energy splittings, for both orientations, agree well with a simple one-band envelope-function model that includes strain corrections. However, for (111) B InyGa1-yAs quantum wells with y greater-than-or-equal-to 0.072, there is evidence of a smaller hydrostatic strain component than is predicted by theory.