Time resolved photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of a SiN cap disordered GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) structure exhibit a decrease in carrier lifetime in conjunction with an increase in quantum well disordering (QWD) as the SiN capping layer thickness is increased. The decrease in carrier lifetime is attributed to enhanced carrier trapping due to the defects introduced during dielectric cap quantum well disordering and the relaxation of the momentum conservation during radiative recombination by QWD. Potential applications of these effects on high speed optical devices such as laser diodes (LD’s) and optical modulators are discussed.