In0.15Ga0.85As/GaAs quantum wire structures grown on (553)B GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Self-organized In0.15Ga0.85As quantum wires (QWRs) were formed in an In0.15Ga0.85As quantum well (QW) with GaAs barrier lavers grown on a (5 5 3)B-oriented GaAs substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The QW has a regularly corrugated interface to the upper GaAs barrier (a lateral period of about 20 nm and a vertical amplitude of about 1.5 nm) and a rather flat interface to the lower GaAs barrier. A very narrow photoluminescence peak from the QWRs was observed at a wavelength of 864 nm at 15 K. The PL peak showed strong polarization dependence [the polarization degree P = (I-parallel to - I-perpendicular to)/(I-parallel to + I-perpendicular to) = 0.25] at 15 K, indicating high one dimensionality of the (5 5 3)B QWRs. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the PL peak was as small as 8.4 meV (15 K) which is, to our knowledge, the smallest PL-FWHM reported so far for self-organized QWRs. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.