The growth of high nitrogen content InGaAsN/GaAs single quantum well (SQW) for 1.55 mum applications on GaAs substrates using solid source molecular beam epitaxy and radio frequency plasma nitrogen source is reported. The nitrogen composition was determined using an X-ray diffractometer combined with dynamic simulation. The crystal and optical qualities of highly strained InGaAs/GaAs SQW grown at low temperature can be significantly improved by nitrogen incorporation due to reducing the lattice mismatch. Without the formation of additional nonradiative recombination in InGaAsN SQW with nitrogen composition up to 4.1% which corresponds to wavelength of 1.46 mum was achieved. The longest room-temperature PL peak wavelength obtained in this study is 1.59 mum by increasing the nitrogen composition up to 5.3%. And, the photoluminescence intensity of high nitrogen content InGaAsN SQW can be improved significantly by decreasing the growth temperature due to suppression of the phase separation of InGaAsN alloy. Our results show the potential for the fabrication of 1.55 mum InGaAsN QW lasers on GaAs substrates. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.