Zn diffusion-induced disordering in semi-insulating, p-doped, and n-doped GaAs/AlGaAs multilayered structures: a comparative study

Secondary-ion mass spectrometry and photoluminescence measurements are used to study Zn diffusion into undoped, Be-doped and Si-doped identical GaAs/Al/sub 0.2/Ga/sub 0.8/As multilayered structures. The effective Zn diffusivity and the disordering rate in the undoped sample are larger than those in the Si-doped sample containing a high concentration of column-III vacancy (V/sub III/), while they are smaller than those in the Be-doped sample that may contain column-III interstitials (I/sub III/) A reduction of V/sub III/ concentration in the Si-doped sample and an increase of I/sub III/ concentration in the Be-doped sample are observed after Zn diffusion, Our model proposed on the basis of the "kick-out" mechanism explains well the experimental results.