Evolution of wetting layer in InAs/GaAs quantum dot system

For InAs/GaAs quantum dot system, the evolution of the wetting layer (WL) with the InAs deposition thickness has been studied by reflectance difference spectroscopy (RDS). Two transitions related to the heavy-and light-hole in the WL have been distinguished in RD spectra. Taking into account the strain and segregation effects, a model has been presented to deduce the InAs amount in the WL and the segregation coefficient of the indium atoms from the transition energies of heavy-and light-holes. The variation of the InAs amount in the WL and the segregation coefficient are found to rely closely on the growth modes. In addition, the huge dots also exhibits a strong effect on the evolution of the WL. The observed linear dependence of In segregation coefficient upon the InAs amount in the WL demonstrates that the segregation is enhanced by the strain in the WL.

Molecular beam epitaxy InAs dot arrays on InGaAs/GaAs

Periodical alignment of the InAs dots along the < 100 > and < 110 > directions was observed on an elastically relaxed InGaAs buffer layer grown at 500 and 450 degrees C, respectively, on the vicinal GaAs(001) substrate. Due to alignment along these directions, the InAs dots were arranged into a quasi-two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. Such a periodical arrangement of InAs dots may be explained in terms of modulation in strain as well as composition along [110] as observed by using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy.

A novel application to quantum dot materials to the active region of superluminescent diodes

We have proposed a new superluminescent diodes (SLD) aimed at wide spectrum-quantum dot superluminescent diodes (QD-SLD), which is characterized by the introduction of a self-assembled asymmetric quantum dot pairs active region into conventional SLID structure. We investigated the structure and optical properties of a bilayer sample with different InAs deposition amounts in the first and second layer. We find that the structure of a self-assembled asymmetric quantum dot pairs can operate up to a 150 nm spectral width. In addition, as the first QDs' density can modulate the density of the QDs on the second layer, due to relatively high QDs density of the first layer, we can get the strong PL intensity from a broad range. We think that for the broad spectral width and the strong PL intensity, this structure can be a promising candidate for QW-SLD. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Valence band structures of the InAs/GaAs quantum ring

In the framework of effective-mass envelope function theory, the valence energy subbands and optical transitions of the InAs/GaAs quantum ring are calculated by using a four-band valence band model. Our model can be used to calculate the hole states of quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots. The effect of finite offset and valence band mixing are taken into account. The energy levels of the hole are calculated in the different shapes of rings. Our calculations show that the effect of the difference between effective masses of holes in different materials on the valence subband structures is significant. Our theoretical results are consistent with the conclusion of the recent experimental measurements and should be useful for researching and making low-dimensional semiconductor optoelectronic devices. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

InAs/GaAs single-electron quantum dot qubit

The time evolution of the quantum mechanical state of an electron is calculated in the framework of the effective-mass envelope function theory for an InAs/GaAs quantum dot. The results indicate that the superposition state electron density oscillates in the quantum dot, with a period on the order of femtoseconds. The interaction energy E-ij between two electrons located in different quantum dots is calculated for one electron in the ith pure quantum state and another in the jth pure quantum state. We find that E-11]E-12]E-22, and E-ij decreases as the distance between the two quantum dots increases. We present a parameter-phase diagram which defines the parameter region for the use of an InAs/GaAs quantum dot as a two-level quantum system in quantum computation. A static electric field is found to efficiently prolong the decoherence time. Our results should be useful for designing the solid-state implementation of quantum computing. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Properties and turning of intraband optical absorption in InxGa1-xAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dot superlattice

We investigated properties of intraband absorption in In-x Ga1-xAs quantum dots (QDs) superlattice. Energy levels in conduction band in QDs were calculated for a cone-shaped quantum dot associated with coupling between QDs in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory. Theoretical results demonstrated that energy levels in conduction band were greatly affected by the vertical coupling between quantum dots, which can be used to modify transition wavelength by adjusting the space layer thickness. Intraband transition is really sensitive to normal incidence and the absorption peak intensity is dependent on the polarization. A satisfying agreement is found between theoretical and experimental values. This result opens up prospects for the fabrication of QDs infrared detectors, which work at atmospheric windows.

Electronic states of InAs/GaAs quantum ring

In the framework of effective mass envelope function theory, the electronic states of the InAs/GaAs quantum ring are studied. Our model can be used to calculate the electronic states of quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots. In calculations, the effects due to the different effective masses of electrons in rings and out rings are included. The energy levels of the electron are calculated in the different shapes of rings. The results indicate that the inner radius of rings sensitively changes the electronic states. The energy levels of the electron are not sensitively dependent on the outer radius for large rings. If decreasing the inner and outer radii simultaneously, one may increase the energy spacing between energy levels and keep the ground state energy level unchanged. If changing one of two radii (inner or outer radius), the ground state energy level and the energy spacing will change simultaneously. These results are useful for designing and fabricating the double colors detector by intraband and interband translations. The single electron states are useful for studying the electron correlations and the effects of magnetic fields in quantum rings. Our calculated results are consistent with the recent experimental data of nanoscopic semiconductor rings. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

The effect of substrate orientation on the morphology of InAs nanostructures on (001) and (11n)A/B(n=1-5) InP substrates

Strained InAs nanostructures have been grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy in In0.52Al0.48As matrix on different InP substrate surfaces ((0 0 1) and (1 1 n)A/B (n = 1 - 5)). The morphology of the nanostructures was characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM results reveal interesting differences in the size, shape, and alignment of the nanostructures between different oriented surfaces. It was found that some faceted nanostructures tend to form on A-type surfaces, the shape and the alignment of these nanostructures show clear dependence on the substrate orientation. Samples grown on (0 0 1) and B-type surfaces showed preferentially dense round dots. Dots formed on (1 1 3)B, (1 1 3)B and (1 1 5)B surfaces have a higher dot density and size homogeneity, which shows a potential for the production of high-quality and customized self-assembled quantum dots for photonics applications. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Self-ordering of quasi-quantum wire in InAlAs/AlGaAs multilayer nanostructure and its optical anisotropy

Self-ordering of quasi-quantum wires in multilayer InAlAs/AlGaAs nanostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy is identified. The chain-like structures along the [1 (1) over bar 0] Of direction formed by coalescence of quantum dots were observed. The photoluminescence of the nanostructures is partially polarized along the [1 (1) over bar 0] direction. The polarization ratio depends on the wavelength and the maximum polarization is on the lower energy side. The maximum polarization increases from 0.32 at 10 K to 0.53 at 100 K, and the energy position of maximum polarization moves near to PL peak with increasing temperature. They are all related to the existence of isolated islands and quasi-quantum wires in our sample. This result provides a novel approach to produce narrow quantum wires. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantum-dot superluminescent diode: A proposal for an ultra-wide output spectrum

We propose a novel superluminescent diode (SLD) with a quantum dot (QD) active layer, which should give a wider output spectrum than a conventional quantum well SLD. The device makes use of inhomogeneous broadness of gain spectrum resulting from size inhomogeneity of self-assembled quantum dots grown by Stranski-Krastanow mode. Taking a design made out in the InxGa1-xAs/GaAs system for example, the spectrum characteristics of the device are simulated realistically, 100-200 nm full width of half maximum of output spectrum can be obtained. The dependence of the output spectrum on In composition, size distribution and injection current of the dots active region is also elaborated.

Annealing behavior of InAs/GaAs quantum dot structures

We investigate the annealing behavior of InAs layers with different thicknesses in a GaAs matrix. The diffusion enhancement by strain, which is well established in strained quantum wells, occurs in InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). A shift of the QD luminescence peak toward higher energies results from this enhanced diffusion. In the case of structures where a significant portion of the strain is relaxed by dislocations, the interdiffusion becomes negligible, and there is a propensity to generate additional dislocations. This results in a decrease of the QD luminescence intensity, and the QD peak energy is weakly affected.

Electroluminescence and photoluminescence of Si/SiGe self-assembly quantum dot structures

Comparative electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements were performed on Si/Si0.6Ge0.4 self-assembly quantum dots (QDs) structures. The samples were grown pseudomorphically by molecular beam epitaxy, and PIN diodes for electroluminescence were fabricated. Assisted TEM pictures shows the SiGe self-assembly QDs are platelike. And it showed that the diameters of QDs are in range from 40nm to 140nm with the most in 120nm. Both EL and PL has a wide luminescence peak due to wide distribution of QDs dimensions. At low temperature (T=14K), EL peak has a red shift compared to the corresponding PL peak. Its full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) is about 97meV, a little smaller than that of corresponding PL peak. The reasons of position and FWHM changes of EL peak from QDs have been discussed.

Quantum Confinement Effects and Electronic Properties of SnO2 Quantum Wires and Dots

On the basis of the density functional theory (DFT) within local density approximations (LDA) approach, we calculate the band gaps for different size SnO2 quantum wire (QWs) and quantum dots (QDs). A model is proposed to passivate the surface atoms of SnO2 QWs and QDs. We find that the band gap increases between QWs and bulk evolve as Delta E-g(wire) = 1.74/d(1.20) as the effective diameter d decreases, while being Delta E-g(dot) = 2.84/d(1.26) for the QDs. Though the similar to d(1.2) scale is significantly different from similar to d(2) of the effective mass result, the ratio of band gap increases between SnO2 QWs and QDs is 0.609, very close to the effective mass prediction. We also confirm, although the LDS calculations underestimate the band gap, that they give the trend of band gap shift as much as that obtained by the hybrid functional (PBE0) with a rational mixing of 25% Fock exchange and 75% of the conventional Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange functional for the SnO2 QWs and QDs. The relative deviation of the LDA calculated band gap difference Lambda E-g compared with the corresponding PBE0 results is only within 5%. Additionally, it is found the states of valence band maximum (VBM) and conduction band minimum (CBM) of SnO2 QWs or QDs have a mostly p- and s-like envelope function symmetry, respectively, from both LDA and PBE0 calculations.

Temperature dependence of hole spin relaxation in ultrathin InAs monolayers

The temperature dependence of hole spin relaxation time in both neutral and n-doped ultrathin InAs monolayers has been investigated. It has been suggested that D'yakonov-Perel (DP) mechanism dominates the spin relaxation process at both low and high temperature regimes. The appearance of a peak in temperature dependent spin relaxation time reveals the important contribution of Coulomb scatterings between carriers to the spin kinetics at low temperature, though electron-phonon scattering becomes dominant at higher temperatures. Increased electron screening effect in the n-doped sample has been suggested to account for the shortened spin relaxation time compared with the undoped one. The results suggest that hole spins are also promising for building solid-state qubits.

Optically controlled quantum dot gated transistors with high on/off ratio

We report the design and fabrication of InAs quantum dot gated transistors, which are normally-on, where the channel current can be switched off by laser illumination. Laser light at 650 nm with a power of 850 pW switches the channel current from 5 mu A to 2 pA, resulting in an on/off ratio of more than 60 dB. The switch-off mechanism and carrier dynamics are analyzed with simulated band structure.