Blue/green pn junction electroluminescence from ZnSe-based multiple quantum-well structures

The successful p doping of ZnSe by substitutional nitrogen using a plasma cell incorporated into the molecular beam epitaxy chamber has led to the development of electroluminescent devices based on carrier injection at a pn junction. The light emitting diode structures described here are grown on a GaAs substrate using a tetragonally distorted (In,Ga)As buffer layer to provide lattice matching between the substrate and the active II-VI region. The result of the incorporation of the buffer layer is an essentially dislocation-free active region. The letter discusses optical properties as well as the x-ray and transmission electron microscopy characterization of the quantum well device structures.