We report the first direct demonstration of a strain‐generated built‐in electric field in a (111) oriented strained‐layer heterostructure. We present a model which describes the accommodation of the misfit strain in a lattice‐mismatched quantum well, and the resulting generation of a longitudinal electric field via the piezoelectric effect. On a (111)B GaAs substrate, we grew the quantum well in the intrinsic region of a p‐i‐n diode such that the strain‐generated electric field in the quantum well opposes the weaker built‐in electric field of the diode. Under reverse bias operation, photoconductivity measurements show a quadratic blue shift of the quantum well electroabsorption peaks, in contrast to the red shifts normally observed in the quantum‐confined Stark effect. The measured blue shifts demonstrate an electric field strength of 1.7×105 V/cm, which agrees with theory to within the accuracy of the measured sample characteristics.

1.
See, for example, M. Cardona, in Solid State Physics, edited by H. Eherenrech, F. Seitz, and D. Turnbull (Academic, New York, 1969), Suppl. 11.
2.
J. W.
Matthews
 and
A. E.
Blakeslee
,
J. Cryst. Growth
27
,
118
(
1974
).
Google Scholar
 
3.
D. L.
Smith
,
Solid State Commun.
57
,
919
(
1986
);
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
C.
Mailhiot
 and
D. L.
Smith
,
Phys. Rev. B
35
,
1242
(
1987
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
4.
See, for example, J. F. Nye, Physical Properties of Crystals (Oxford University, Amen House, London, 1964).
5.
See, for example, W. F. Cady, Piezoelectricity (McGraw‐Hill, New York, 1946).
6.
J. H.
van der Merve
,
J. Appl. Phys.
34
,
117
(
1963
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
7.
G. H.
Olsen
,
C. J.
Nuese
, and
R. T.
Smith
,
J. Appl. Phys.
49
,
5523
(
1978
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
8.
It should be noted that the tensor elements of the elastic stiffness constant Cijkl = Cmn, the matrix elements of the elastic stiffness constant where m,n = 1,2,…,6.
9.
D. A. B.
Miller
,
D. S.
Chemla
,
T. C.
Damen
,
A. C.
Gossard
,
W.
Wiegmann
,
T. H.
Wood
, and
C. A.
Burrus
,
Phys. Rev. Lett.
53
,
2173
(
1984
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
10.
L.
Viña
 and
W. I.
Wang
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
48
,
35
(
1986
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
11.
A. Y.
Cho
,
J. Appl. Phys.
41
,
2780
(
1970
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
12.
For a description of the relationship between the quantum and bulk electroabsorption see
D. A. B.
Miller
,
D. S.
Chemla
, and
S.
Sehmitt‐Rink
,
Phys. Rev. B
33
,
6976
(
1986
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
13.
D. A. B.
Miller
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
54
,
202
(
1989
);
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
K. W.
Goossen
,
E. A.
Caridi
,
R. A.
Morgan
,
T. Y.
Chang
,
J. B.
Stark
, and
D. A. B.
Miller
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
56
, 19 Feb. (
1990
).
Google Scholar
 
14.
Semiconductors: Physics of group IV Elements and III‐V Compounds, edited by Landolt and Bornstein (Springer, New York, 1982).
This content is only available via PDF.
© 1990 American Institute of Physics.
1990
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.