Synchrotron x-ray diffraction study of micro-patterns obtained by spatially selective hydrogenation of GaAsN

We report a comparative synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction study of GaAs1-yNy microstructures obtained by two different patterning methods: spatially selective H incorporation achieved by using H-opaque masks and spatially selective H removal attained by laser writing. These methods are emerging as original routes for fabrication of micro-and nano-structures with in-plane modulation of the bandgap energy. By measuring the out-of-plane and in-plane lattice parameters, we find that for both patterning approaches the largest part of the micro-structure volume remains tensile-strained and pseudomorphic to the substrate, regardless of the compressive-strained hydrogenated barriers. However, a larger lattice disorder is probed in the laser-written micro-structures and attributed to partial removal of H and/or strain changes at the micro-structure boundaries. This larger lattice disorder is confirmed by photoluminescence studies. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.