Unveiling the morphology of buried In(Ga)As nanostructures by selective wet chemical etching: From quantum dots to quantum rings

The three-dimensional morphology of In(Ga)As nanostructures embedded in a GaAs matrix is investigated by combining atomic force microscopy and removal of the GaAs cap layer by selective wet etching. This method is used to investigate how the morphology of In(Ga)As quantum dots changes upon GaAs capping and subsequent in situ etching with AsBr3. A wave function calculation based on the experimentally determined morphologies suggests that quantum dots transform into quantum rings during in situ etching. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Electronic structure of InSb quantum ellipsoids in an external magnetic field

The shape dependence of electronic structure, electron g factors in the presence of the external magnetic field of InSb quantum ellipsoids are investigated in the framework of eight-band effective-mass approximation. It is found that as the increasing aspect ratio e, the electron states with P character split into three doublets for the different physical interaction and the light-hole states with S character come up to the top of valence bands at e = 2.6 in comparison with the heavy-hole states. In the presence of the external magnetic field, the energy splits of electron states are different for their wave function distribution direction, and the hole ground state remain optical active for a suitable aspect ratio. The electron g factors of InSb spheres decrease with increasing radius, and have the value of about two for the smallest radius, about -47.2 for sufficiently larger radius, similar to the bulk material case. Actually, the electron g factors decrease as any one of the three dimensions increase. The more dimensions increase, the more g factors decrease. The dimensions perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field affect the g factors more than the other dimensions. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design of shallow acceptors in ZnO: First-principles band-structure calculations

p-type doping is a great challenge for the full utilization of ZnO as short-wavelength optoelectronic material. Due to a large electronegative characteristic of oxygen, the ionization energy of acceptors in ZnO is usually too high. By analyzing the defect wave-function character, we propose several approaches to lower the acceptor ionization energy by codoping acceptors with donor or isovalent atoms. Using the first-principles band-structure method, we show that the acceptor transition energies of V-Zn-O-O can be reduced by introducing F-O next to V-Zn to reduce electronic potential, whereas the acceptor transition energy of N-O-nZn(Zn) (n=1-4) can be reduced if we replace Zn by isovalent Mg or Be to reduce the anion and cation kinetic p-d repulsion, as well as the electronic potential.

Exciton states of vertically stacked self-assembled InAs quantum disks in an axial magnetic field

We have studied the exciton states of vertically stacked self-assembled quantum disks within the effective mass approximation. The ground energies of a heavy-hole and a light-hole excitons as functions of the vertical disk separation are presented and discussed. The transition energy of a heavy-hole ground-state exciton is calculated and compared with the experimental data. The binding energies are discussed in terms of the probability of ground wave function. The ground energies of a heavy-hole and a light-hole excitons as functions of the applied axial magnetic field are calculated and the effect of disk size (radius of disks) on exciton energies is discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Two types of InAs self-assembled Quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by Molecular beam epitaxy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements showed that, compared to QDs grown on GaAs substrate, QDs grown on InGaAs layer has a significantly enhanced density. The short spacing (several nanometer) among QDs stimulates strong coupling and leads to a large red-shift of the 1.3 mu m photoluminescence (PL) peak. We study systematically the dependence of PL lifetime on the QDs size, density and temperature (1). We found that, below 50 K, the PL lifetime is insensitive to temperature, which is interpreted from the localization effects. As T increases, the PL lifetime increases, which can be explained from the competition between the carrier redistribution and thermal emission at higher temperature. The increase of carriers in QDs migrated from barriers and wetting layer (WL), and the redistribution of carriers among QDs enhance the PL lifetime as T increases. The thermal emission and non-radiative recombination have effects to reduce the PL lifetime at higher T. As a result, the radiative recombination lifetime is determined by the wave function overlapping of electrons and holes in QDs, and QDs with different densities have different PL lifetime dependence on the QDs size. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantum fluctuation of dissipative mesoscopic capacitance coupling circuit

The quantum wave function and the corresponding energy levels of the dissipative mesoscopic capacitance coupling circuits are obtained by using unitary and linear transformations. The quantum fluctuation of charge and current in an arbitrary eigenstate of the system have been also given. The results show that the fluctuation of charge and current depends on not only the eigenstate but also the electronic device parameters.

InxGa1-xAs/AlyGa1-yAs/AlzGa1-zAs asymmetric step quantum-well middle wavelength infrared detectors

InxGa1-xAs/AlyGa1-yAs/AlzGa1-zAs asymmetric step quantum-well middle wavelength (3-5 mum) infrared detectors are fabricated. The components display photovoltaic-type photocurrent response as well as the bias-controlled modulation of the peak wavelength of the main response, which is ascribed to the Stark shifts of the intersubband transitions from the local ground states to the extended first excited states in the quantum wells, at the 3-5.3 mum infrared atmospheric transmission window. The blackbody detectivity (D-bb*) of the detectors reaches to about 1.0x10(10) cm Hz(1/2)/W at 77 K under bias of +/-7 V. By expanding the electron wave function in terms of normalized plane wave basis within the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory, the linear Stark effects of the intersubband transitions between the ground and first excited states in the asymmetric step well are calculated. The obtained results agree well with the corresponding experimental measurements. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Longitudinal optic phonon-plasmon coupling in delta-doped metamorphic InAlAs/InGaAs high-electron-mobility transistor structures on GaAs substrates

InAlAs/InGaAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor structures with different spacer layers on GaAs substrates are characterized by Raman measurements. The influence of In0.52Al0.48As spacer thickness on longitudinal optic phonon-plasmon coupling is investigated. It is found that the intensity of GaAs-like longitudinal optic phonon, which couples with collective intersubband transitions of two-dimensional electron gas, is strongly affected by the different subband energy spacings, subband electron concentrations, and wave function distributions, which are determined by different spacer thicknesses. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Variational calculations of ionized-donor-bound excitons in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells

Using a two-parameter wave function, we calculate variationally the binding energy of an exciton bound to an ionized donor impurity (D+,X) in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells for the values of the well width from 10 to 300 Angstrom, when the dopant is located in the center of the well and at the edge of the well. The theoretical results confirm that the previous experimental speculation proposed by Reynolds tit al. [Phys. Rev. B 40, 6210 (1989)] is the binding energy of D+,X for the dopant at the edge of the well. in addition, we also calculate the center-of-mass wave function of the exciton and the average interparticle distances. The results are discussed in detail.

Binding energy of ionized-donor-bound excitons in the GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells

The binding energy of an exciton bound to an ionized donor impurity (D+,X) located st the center or the edge in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells is calculated variationally for the well width from 10 to 300 Angstrom by using a two-parameter wave function, The theoretical results are discussed and compared with the previous experimental results.

Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Two types of InAs self-assembled Quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by Molecular beam epitaxy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements showed that, compared to QDs grown on GaAs substrate, QDs grown on InGaAs layer has a significantly enhanced density. The short spacing (several nanometer) among QDs stimulates strong coupling and leads to a large red-shift of the 1.3 mu m photoluminescence (PL) peak. We study systematically the dependence of PL lifetime on the QDs size, density and temperature (1). We found that, below 50 K, the PL lifetime is insensitive to temperature, which is interpreted from the localization effects. As T increases, the PL lifetime increases, which can be explained from the competition between the carrier redistribution and thermal emission at higher temperature. The increase of carriers in QDs migrated from barriers and wetting layer (WL), and the redistribution of carriers among QDs enhance the PL lifetime as T increases. The thermal emission and non-radiative recombination have effects to reduce the PL lifetime at higher T. As a result, the radiative recombination lifetime is determined by the wave function overlapping of electrons and holes in QDs, and QDs with different densities have different PL lifetime dependence on the QDs size. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PRESSURE BEHAVIOR OF INXGA1-XAS/GAAS STRAINED QUANTUM-WELLS WITH DIFFERENT WIDTHS

The photoluminescence of InxGa1-xAs/GaAs strained quantum wells with widths of 30 angstrom to 160 angstrom have been studied at 77 K under hydrostatic pressure up to 60 kbar. It is found that the pressure coefficients of exciton peaks from 1st conduction subband to heavy hole subband increase from 9.74 meV/kbar for a 160 angstrom well to 10.12 meV/kbar for a 30 angstrom well. The calculation based on the Kronig-Penney model indicated that the extension of the electronic wave function to the barrier layer in the narrow wells is one of the reasons for the increase of the pressure coefficients with the decrease of well width. Two peaks related to indirect transitions were observed at pressures higher than 50 kbar.

Quantum confinement effect in thin quantum wires

The electronic states and optical transition properties of three semiconductor wires Si? GaAs, and ZnSe are studied by the empirical pseudopotential homojunction model. The energy levels, wave functions, optical transition matrix elements, and lifetimes are obtained for wires of square cross section with width from 2 to 5 (root 2a/2), where a is the lattice constant. It is found that these three kinds of wires have different quantum confinement properties. For Si wires, the energy gap is pseudodirect, and the wave function of the electronic ground state consists mainly of four bulk Delta states. The optical transition matrix elements are much smaller than that of a direct transition, and increase with decreasing wire width. Where the width of wire is 7.7 Angstrom, the Si wire changes from an indirect energy gap to a direct energy gap due to mixing of the bulk Gamma(15) state. For GaAs wires. the energy gap is also pseudodirect in the width range considered, but the optical transition matrix elements are larger than those of Si wires by two orders of magnitude for the same width. However, there is no transfer to a direct energy gap as the wire width decreases. For ZnSe wires, the energy gap is always direct, and the optical transition matrix elements are comparable to those of the direct energy gap bulk semiconductors. They decrease with decreasing wire width due to mixing of the bulk Gamma(1) state with other states. All quantum confinement properties are discussed and explained by our theoretical model and the semiconductor energy band structures derived. The calculated lifetimes of the Si wire, and the positions of photoluminescence peaks, are in good agreement with experimental results.

Study of double barrier superlattice by synchrotron radiation and double-crystal x-ray diffraction

An (A1As/GaAs/A1As/A1GaAs)/GaAs(001) double-barrier superlattice grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is studied by combining synchrotron radiation and double-crystal x-ray diffraction (DCD). The intensity of satellite peaks is modulated by the wave function of each sublayer in one superlattice period. Simulated by the x-ray dynamical diffraction theory, it is discovered that the intensity of the satellite peaks situated near the modulating wave node point of each sublayer is very sensitive to the variation of the layer structural parameters, The accurate layer thickness of each sublayer is obtained with an error less than 1 Angstrom. Furthermore, x-ray kinematical diffraction theory is used to explain the modulation phenomenon. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Bonding and correlation analysis of various SiCO isomers

The structural properties for various SiCO isomers in the singlet and triplet states have been investigated using CASSCF methods with a 6-311 +G* basis set and also using three DFT and MP2 with same basis set for those systems except for the linear singlet state. The detailed bonding character is discussed, and the state-state correlations and the isomerization mechanism are also determined. Results indicate that there are four different isomers for each spin state, and for all isomers, the triplet state is more stable than the corresponding singlet state. The most stable is the linear SiCO ((3)Sigma(-)) species and may be refer-red to the ground state. At the CASSCF-MP2(full)/6-311+G* level, the state-state energy separations of the other triplet states relative to the ground state are 43.2 (cyclic), 45.2 (linear SiOC), and 75.6 kcal/mol (linear CSiO), respectively, whereas the triplet-singlet state excitation energies for each configuration are 17.3 (linear SiCO), 2.2 (cyclic SiCO), 10.2 (linear SiOC), and 18.5 kcal/mol (linear CSiO), respectively. SiCo ((3)Sigma(-)) may be classified as silene (carbonylsilene), and its COdelta- moiety possesses CO- property. The dissociation energy of the ground state is 42.5 kcal/mol at the CASSCF-MP2(full)/6-311+G* level and falls within a range of 36.5-41.5 kcal/mol at DFT level, and of 23.7-28.9 kcal/mol at the wave function-correlated level, whereas the vertical IP is 188.8 kcal/mol at the CASSCF-MP2(full)/6-311+G* level and is very close to the first IP of Si atom. Three linear isomers (SiCO, SiOC, and CSiO) have similar structural bonding character. SiOC may be referred to the iso-carbonyl Si instead of the aether compound, whereas the CSiO isomer may be considered as the combination of C (the analogue of Si) with SiO (the analogue of CO). The bonding is weak for all linear species, and the corresponding potential energy surfaces are flat, and thus these linear molecules are facile. Another important isomer is of cyclic structure, it may be considered as the combination of CO with Si by the side pi bond. This structure has the smallest triplet state-singlet state excitation energy (similar to2.2 kcal/mol); the C-O bonds are longer, and the corresponding vibrational frequencies are significantly smaller than those of the other linear species. This cyclic species is not classified as an epoxy compound. State-state correlation analysis and the isomerization pathway searches have indicated that there are no direct correlations among three linear structures for each spin state, but they may interchange by experiencing two transition states and one cyclic intermediate. The easiest pathway is to break the Si-O bond to go to the linear SiCO, but its inverse process is very difficult. The most difficult process is to break the C-O bond and to go to the linear CSiO.