Plasma immersion Ar⁺ ion implantation induced disorder in strained InGaAsP multiple quantum wells

The authors report the disordering in compressively strained InGaAsP/InP multiple quantum wells induced by 20keV Ar⁺ plasma immersion ion implantation. With an Ar⁺ dose of 10¹⁶cm^-2 and a subsequent standard furnace annealing at 650°C for 90min, the implanted sample exhibits an extra blue-shift of about 20nm in comparison to the unimplanted control sample. For a sample that has been partially masked during implantation, a sharp intermixing step is observed after the 650°C anneal, indicating that the technique has the potential of introducing a localised disordering effect and, hence, may be a viable fabrication technique for integrated photonic devices.