Photoluminescence and Double-Crystal X-Ray Study of InGaAs/InP: Effect of Rare Earth (Dysprosium) Addition During Liquid Phase Epitaxial Growth

High purity In$\text{}_{0.53}$Ga$\text{}_{0.47}$As layers were grown on semi-insulating InP:Fe substrates by liquid phase epitaxy by adding small amounts of dysprosium (rare earth) to the melt. Hall effect and photoluminescence measurements showed that the addition of Dy strongly reduced the carrier and residual donor concentration, with a concurrent shift of the excitonic luminescence toward higher energies. The observed effects are ascribed to the gettering of residual donor impurities in the melt by Dy, as well as to the effects of possible incorporation of Dy into the grown layers.