Excitonic energy of vertically stacked self-assmbled InAs quantum dots

We have studied the exciton states in vertically stacked self-assembled quantum disks within the effective mass approximation. The energy spectrum of the electron and hole is calculated using the transfer matrix formalism in the adiabatic approximation. The Coulomb interaction between the electron and the hole is treated accurately by the direct diagonalization of the Hamiltonian matrix. The effect of the vertical alignment of the disks on the ground energy of heavy- and light-hole exciton is presented and discussed. The binding energy is discussed in terms of the probability of the ground wave function. The ground energy of heavy- and light-hole excitons as a function of the magnetic field is presented and the effect of the disk size (the radius of disks) on the exciton energy is discussed.

Rapid thermal annealing effects on structural and optical properties of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots capped by InAlAs/InGaAs layers

Effects of rapid thermal annealing on the optical and structural properties of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots capped by the InAlAs/InGaAs combination layers are studied by photoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy. The photoluminescence measurement shows that the photoluminescence peak of the sample after 850 degrees C rapid thermal annealing is blue shifted with 370meV and the excitation peak intensity increases by a factor of about 2.7 after the rapid thermal annealing, which indicates that the InAs quantum dots have experienced an abnormal transformation during the annealing. The transmission electron microscopy shows that the quantum dots disappear and a new InAlGaAs single quantum well structure forms after the rapid thermal annealing treatment. The transformation mechanism is discussed. These abnormal optical properties are attributed to the structural transformation of these quantum dots into a single quantum well.

The effect of a combined InAlAs and GaAs strained buffer layer on the structure and optical property of InAs quantum dots

The character of InAs quantum dots (QD) directly deposited on a combined InAlAs-GaAs (XML) strained buffer layer (SBL) has been investigated. This growth technique realizes high-density QD (5.88 x 10(10) cm(-2)) by changing the thickness of GaAs in InAlAs-GaAs SBL. The dependence of the density and the aspect ratio of QD on the GaAs thickness has been discussed in detail. The photoluminescence (PL) measurements demonstrate an obvious redshift with the increase of GaAs thickness. In addition, the deposition of InAs QDs grown on the combined InAlAs-GaAs SBL has an important effect of the QD properties. The ordered QD array can be observed from the sample deposited by atomic layer epitaxy, of which the PL peak shows an obvious redshift in comparison to the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) QDs when the GaAs thicknesses are equal. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electronic structure of self-assembled InAs quantum discs in a magnetic field with varying orientation and two-electron quantum-disc qubits

We have studied the electronic structure of vertically assembled quantum discs in a magnetic field with varying orientation using the effective mass approximation. We calculate the four energy levels of single-electron quantum discs and the two lowest energy levels of two-electron quantum discs in a magnetic field with varying orientation. The change of the magnetic field as an effective potential strongly modifies the electronic structure, leading to splittings of the levels and anticrossings between the levels. The calculated results also demonstrate the switching between the ground states with the total spin S = 0 and 1. The switching induces a qubit controlled by varying the orientation of the magnetic field.

Surface morphology control of strained InAs/GaAs(331)A films: From nanowires to island-pit pairs

We have studied the effect of molecular beam epitaxy growth conditions on the surface morphology of strained InAs/GaAs(331)A films. Our results reveal that InAs nanowires aligned along the [1 (1) over bar0] direction are formed under As-rich conditions, which is explained by the effect of anisotropic buffer layer surface roughing. Under In-rich conditions, however, the surface morphology of the InAs layers is characterized by a feature of island-pit pairs. In this case, cooperative nucleation of islands and pits can lower the activation barrier for domain growth. These results suggest that the surface morphology of strained InAs layers is highly controllable. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Structural and optical properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots emitting at 1.5 mu m

We have demonstrated 1.5 mum light emission from InAs quantum dots (QDs) capped with a thin GaAs layer. The extension of the emission wavelength can be assigned to the large QD height. We also investigate the effect of growth interruption on the PL properties and the shape of InAs QDs fabricated by migration-enhanced growth (MEG). Contrary to expectation, we observed a remarkable blueshift of the emission energy with the growth interruption in MEG mode. Detailed investigations reveal that the blueshift is related to the reduced island height with the growth interruption, which is confirmed by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurement results. Accordingly, the structure changes of the islands are interpreted in terms of thermodynamic and kinetic theories. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of cross-hatch grid morphology and its effect on ordering growth of quantum dots

We investigate the development of cross-hatch grid surface morphology in growing mismatched layers and its effect on ordering growth of quantum dots (QDs). For a 60degrees dislocation (MD), the effective part in strain relaxation is the part with the Burgers vector parallel to the film/substrate interface within its b(edge) component; so the surface stress over a MD is asymmetric. When the strained layer is relatively thin, the surface morphology is cross-hatch grid with asymmetric ridges and valleys. When the strained layer is relatively thick, the ridges become nearly symmetrical, and the dislocations and the ridges inclined-aligned. In the following growth of InAs, QDs prefer to nucleate on top of the ridges. By selecting ultra-thin In0.15Ga0.85As layer (50nm) and controlling the QDs layer at just formed QDs, we obtained ordered InAs QDs. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Semiconductor nanometer structures and devices

Self-assembled quantum dots and wires were obtained in the InxGa1-xAs/GaAs and InAs/In0.52Al0.48As/lnP systems, respectively, using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Uniformity in the distribution, density, and spatial ordering of the nanostructures can be controlled to some extent by adjusting and optimizing the MBE growth parameters. Laser devices and superluminescent diodes were fabricated with InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots as the active region.

Extremely low density InAs quantum dots realized in situ on (100) GaAs

Extremely low density self-assembled InAs quantum dots are grown by a combination technique of in situ annealing for 2 min and pause of substrate rotation during molecular beam epitaxy. The surface morphology and structural characteristics of the quantum dots are scrutinized by atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence spectra. It is found that the quantum dot size and density increase as the InAs deposition amount rises. Quantum dots with a density between 2.5 x 10(7) cm(-2) and 2.2 x 10(8) cm(-2) are 2-5 nm in height and 18-39 nm in diameter. It is believed that as-grown InAs nanodots may be of important value for future single quantum dot research.

MBE growth of very short period InAs/GaSb type-II superlattices on (001) GaAs substrates

First, GaSb epilayers were grown on (001) GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. We determined that the GaSb layers had very smooth surfaces using atomic force microscopy. Then, very short period InAs/ GaSb superlattices (SLs) were grown on the GaSb buffer layer. The optical and crystalline properties of the superlattices were studied by low-temperature photoluminescence spectra and high resolution transition electron microscopy. In order to determine the interface of SLs, the samples were tested by Raman-scattering spectra at room temperature. Results indicated that the peak wavelength of SLs with clear interfaces and integrated periods is between 2.0 and 2.6 mu m. The SL interface between InAs and GaSb is InSb-like.

Gain measurement and anomalous decrease of peak gain at long wavelength for InAs/GaAs quantum-dot lasers

Mode gain spectrum is measured by the Fourier series expansion method for InAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) lasers with seven stacks of QDs at different injection currents. Gain spectra with distinctive peaks are observed at the short and long wavelengths of about 1210 nm and 1300 nm. For a QD laser with the cavity length of 1060 mu m, the peak gain of the long wavelength first increases slowly or even decreases with the injection current as the peak gain of the short wavelength increases quickly, and finally increases quickly before approaching the saturated values as the injection current further increases.

Influence of InAs deposition. thickness on the structural and optical properties of InAs quantum wires

The influence of InAs deposition thickness on the structural and optical properties of InAs/InAlAs quantum wires (QWR) superlattices (SLS) was studied. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results show that with increasing the InAs deposited thickness, the size uniformity and spatial ordering of InAs QWR SLS was greatly improved, but threading dislocations initiated from InAs nanowires for the sample with 6 monolayers (MLs) InAs deposition. In addition, the zig-zag features along the extending direction and lateral interlink of InAs nanowires were also observed. The InAs nanowires, especially for the first period, were laterally compact. These structural features may result in easy tunneling and coupling of charge carriers between InAs nanowires and will hamper their device applications to some extent. Some suggestions are put forward for further improving the uniformity of the stacked InAs QWRs, and for suppressing the formation of the threading dislocations in InAs QWR SLS.

Plasmons in vertically coupled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We investigate plasmon excitations in a quantum wire that consists of an infinite one-dimensional array of vertically coupled InAs/GaAs strained quantum dots (QDs). The research is carried out in the framework of random-phase approximation using effective-mass theory. Our formalism is capable of studying plasmons with strong tunneling among QDs, which frustrate the conventionally adopted tight-binding approximation. Based on this formalism, a systematic study on the intraminiband or intrasubband plasmon in vertically coupled InAs/GaAs strained QDs is presented. It is found that an increase of the dot spacing will inevitably reduce the plasmon energy. In contrast, the role of dot height is relatively complex and depends on the dot spacing. The results demonstrate the possibility to engineer collective excitations in low dimensional systems by simply changing their geometric configuration.

Defects around self-organized InAs quantum dots measured by slow positron beam

Self-organized InAs quantum dots (QDs) have been fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy. The authors try to use a slow positron beam to detect defects in and around self-organized QDs, and point defects are observed in GaAs cap layer above QDs. For the self-organized InAs QDs without strain-reducing layer, it is free of defects. However, by introducing a strain-reducing layer, the density of point defects around larger sized InAs QDs increased. The above results suggest that low energy positron beam measurements may be a good approach to detect depth profiles of defects in QD materials. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Ordered InAs quantum dots with controllable periods grown on stripe-patterned GaAs substrates

GaAs (001) substrates are patterned by electron beam lithography and wet chemical etching to control the nucleation of InAs quantum dots (QDs). InAs dots are grown on the stripe-patterned substrates by solid source molecular beam epitaxy, A thick buffer layer is deposited on the strip pattern before the deposition of InAs. To enhance the surface diffusion length of the In atoms, InAs is deposited with low growth rate and low As pressure. The AFM images show that distinct one-dimensionally ordered InAs QDs with homogeneous size distribution are created, and the QDs preferentially nucleate along the trench. With the increasing amount of deposited InAs and the spacing of the trenches, a number of QDs are formed beside the trenches. The distribution of additional QDs is long-range ordered, always along the trenchs rather than across the spacing regions.