Enhancement of photoluminescence intensity in InGaAs/AlxGa1−xAs quantum wells by hydrogenation

Abstract
The effect of diffusion of monatomic hydrogen on photoluminescence (PL) in the InGaAs/AlGaAs system has been studied. A significant increase in 77 K PL integrated intensity for In0.2Ga0.8As/AlxGa1−xAs quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy is observed after hydrogenation. A 50% increase is observed for InGaAs/GaAs and the effect increases as the Al concentration increases from 0% to 33%. For 33%, the increase is approximately a factor of 9. This enhancement of the PL may be ascribed to hydrogen passivation of defects at the heterointerface or within the layers.