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.

Dependence of elastic strain field on the self-organized ordering of quantum dot superlattices

A systematic investigation of the strain distribution of self-organized, lens-shaped quantum dot in the case of growth direction on (001) substrate was presented. The three-dimensional finite element analysis for an array of dots was used for the strain calculation. The dependence of the strain energy density distribution on the thickness of the capping layer was investigated in detail when the elastic characteristics of the matrix material were anisotropic. It is shown that the elastic anisotropic greatly influences the stress, strain, and strain energy density in the quantum dot structures. The anisotropic ratio of the matrix material and the combination with different thicknesses of the capping layer, may lead to different strain energy density minimum locations on the capping layer surface, which can result in various vertical ordering phenomena for the next layer of quantum dots, i.e. partial alignment, random alignment, and complete alignment.

Self-assembled quantum dots, wires and quantum-dot lasers

Molecular beam epitaxy-grown self-assembled In(Ga)As/GaAs and InAs/InAlAs/InP quantum dots (QDs) and quantum wires (QWRs) have been studied. By adjusting growth conditions, surprising alignment. preferential elongation, and pronounced sequential coalescence of dots and wires under specific condition are realized. The lateral ordering of QDs and the vertical anti-correlation of QWRs are theoretically discussed. Room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) lasing at the wavelength of 960 nm with output power of 3.6 W from both uncoated facets is achieved fi-om vertical coupled InAs/GaAs QDs ensemble. The RT threshold current density is 218 A/cm(2). A RT CW output power of 0.6 W/facet ensures at least 3570 h lasing (only drops 0.83 dB). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.

Different transfer paths for thermally activated electrons and holes in self-organized Ge/Si(001) islands in a multilayer structure

We investigated the temperature dependence (10-250 K) of the photoluminescence (PL) emission spectrum of self-organized Ge/Si(001) islands in a multilayer structure. With elevated temperature, we find that the thermally activated holes and electrons are gathered by the Ge islands in different ways. The holes drift from the wetting layer into the islands, while the electrons, confined in Si due to type-II band alignment, leak into the Ge islands by the electrostatic interaction with the holes accumulated there. It results in an increase of the integrated intensity of island-related PL at a certain temperature range and a reduction of the phonon energy in the phonon-assisted PL of the islands by involving a type-I transition into a type-II transition. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Self-assembled InAs quantum wires on InP(001)

Self-assembled InAs quantum wires (QWRs) embedded in In0.52Al0.48As, In0.53Ga0.47As, and (In0.52Al0.48As)(n)/(In0.53Ga0.47As)(m)-short-period-lattice matrices on InP(001) were fabricated with molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). These QWR lines are along [110], x 4 direction in the 2 x 4 reconstructed (001) surface as revealed with reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Alignment of quantum wires in different layers in the InAs/spacer multilayer structures depends on the composition of spacer layers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots and quantum dot laser

Systematic study of molecular beam epitaxy-grown self-assembled In(Ga)As/GaAs, In-AlAs/AlGaAs/GaAs, and InAs/InAlAs/InP quantum dots (QDs) is demonstrated. By adjusting growth conditions, surprising alignment, preferential elongation, and pronounced sequential coalescence of dots under the specific condition are realized. Room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) lasing at the wavelength of 960 nm with output power of 1 W is achieved from vertical coupled InAs/GaAs QDs ensemble. The RT threshold current density is 218 A/cm(2). An RT CW output power of 0.53 W ensures at least 3 000 h lasing (only drops 0.83 db). This is one of the best results ever reported.

Pressure behaviour of self-assembled In0.55Al0.45As/Al0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots with multi-modal distribution in size

The pressure behaviour of In0.55Al0.45As/Al0.5Ga0.5As self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) has been studied at 15 K in the pressure range of 0-1.3 GPa. The atomic force microscopy image shows that the QDs have a multi-modal distribution in size. Three emission peaks were observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra, corresponding to the different QD families. The measured pressure coefficients are 82, 93 and 98 meV GPa(-1) for QDs with average lateral size of 26, 52 and 62 nm, respectively. The pressure coefficient of small QDs is about 17% smaller than that of bulk In0.55Al0.45As An envelope-function calculation was used to analyse the effect of pressure-induced change of barrier height, effective mass and dot size on the pressure coefficients of QDs. The Gamma-X state mixing was also included in the evaluation of the reduction of the pressure coefficients. The results indicate that both the pressure-induced increase of effective mass and Gamma-X mixing respond to the decrease of pressure coefficients, and the Gamma-X mixing is more important for small dots. The calculated Gamma-X interaction potentials are 15 and 10 meV for QDs with lateral size of 26 and 52 nm, respectively. A type-II alignment for the X conduction band is suggested according to the pressure dependence of the PL intensities. The valence-band offset was then estimated as 0.15 +/- 0.02.

Two-dimensional ordering of self-assembled InxGal-xAs quantum dots grown on GaAs(311)B surfaces

Two-dimensional (2D) ordering of self-assembled InxGa1-xAs quantum dots (QDs) fabricated on GaAs(311)B surface by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are reported. The QDs are aligned into rows deferring from the direction of the misorientation of the substrate, and strongly dependent on the mole In content x of InxGa1-xAs solid solution. The ordering alignment deteriorates significantly as the In content is increased to above 0.5. The 2D ordering can be described as a centered rectangular unit mesh with the two sides parallel to [01 (1) over bar] and [(2) over bar 33], respectively. Their relative arrangement seems to be determined by a combination of the strongly repulsive elastic interaction between neighbouring islands and the minimization of the strain energy of the whole system. The ordering also helps to improve the size homogeneity of the InGaAs islands. Photoluminescence (PL) result demonstrates that QDs grown on (311)B have the narrowest linewidth and the strongest integrated intensity, compared to those grown on (100) and other high-index planes under the same condition. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Two-dimensional ordering of self-assembled InxGa1-xAs quantum dots grown on GaAs(311)B surfaces

The two-dimensional (2D) ordering of self-assembled InxGa1-xAs quantum dots (QDs) fabricated on GaAs(3 1 1)B surface by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are reported. The QDs are aligned into rows differing from the direction of the misorientation of the substrate, and strongly dependent on the mole In content x of InxGa1-As-x solid solution. The ordering alignment deteriorates significantly as the In content is increased to above 0.5. The 2D ordering can be described as a centered rectangular unit mesh with the two sides parallel to [0 1 (1) over bar] and [(2) over bar 3 3], respectively. Their relative arrangement seems to be determined by a combination of the strongly repulsive elastic interaction between the neighboring islands and the minimization of the strain energy of the whole system. The ordering also helps to improve the size homogeneity of the InGaAs islands. The photoluminescence (PL) result demonstrates that QDs grown on (3 1 1)B have the narrowest linewidth and the strongest integrated intensity, compared to those on (1 0 0) and other high-index planes under the same condition. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Self-assembled InAs and In0.9Al0.1As quantum dots on (001)InP substrates grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)

InAs and In0.9Al0.1As self-assembled quantum dots have been grown by Stranski-Krastanow growth mode on In0.52Al0.48As lattice-matched on (0 0 1)InP substrates by MBE. The ternary In0.9Al0.1As dots on InP was demonstrated for the first time. The structural and optical properties were characterized using TEM and PL, respectively. Experimental results show that, a larger critical thickness is required for In0.9Al0.1As dots formation than for InAs dots, the In0.9Al0.1As dots show larger sizes and less homogeneity; some ordering in alignment can be observed in both InAs and In0.9Al0.1As dots, and In0.9Al0.1As dots give narrower luminescence than InAs dots. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Self-organization of the InGaAs GaAs quantum dots superlattice

The mechanism of self-organization of quantum dots (QDs) during the growth of InGaAs/GaAs multilayers on GaAs (1 0 0) was investigated with cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM), and double-crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXD). We found that the QDs spacing in the first layer can affect the vertical alignment of QDs. There seems to exist one critical lateral QD spacing, below which merging of QDs with different initial size is found to be the dominant mechanism leading to perfect vertical alignment. Once the critical value of QDs spacing is reached, the InGaAs QDs of the first layer are simply reproduced in the upper layers. The X-ray rocking curve clearly shows two sets of satellite peaks, which correspond to the QDs superlattice, and multi-quantum wells (QW) formed by the wetting layers around QDs. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Structural and infrared absorption properties of self-organized InGaAs GaAs quantum dots multilayers

Self-organized InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) stacked multilayers have been prepared by solid source molecular beam epitaxy. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy shows that the InGaAs QDs are nearly perfectly vertically aligned in the growth direction [100]. The filtering effect on the QDs distribution is found to be the dominant mechanism leading to vertical alignment and a highly uniform size distribution. Moreover, we observe a distinct infrared absorption from the sample in the range of 8.6-10.7 mu m. This indicates the potential of QDs multilayer structure for use as infrared photodetector.

Lateral ordered InGaAs self-organized quantum dots grown on (311) GaAs by conventional molecular beam epitaxy

Self-assembled InxGa1-xAs quantum dots (QDs) on (311) and (100) GaAs surfaces have been grown by conventional solid source molecular beam epitaxy. Spontaneously ordering alignment of InxGa1-xAs QDs with lower In content around 0.3 has been observed on As-terminated (B type) surfaces. The direction of alignment orientation of the QDs formation differs from the direction of misorientation of the (311) B surface, and is strongly dependent upon the In content x. The ordering alignment becomes significantly deteriorated as the In content is increased to above 0.5 or as the QDs are formed on (100) and (311) Ga-terminated (A type) substrates.

High power continuous-wave operation of self-organized In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dot lasers

Quantum dot (QD) lasers are expected to have superior properties over conventional quantum well lasers due to a delta-function like density of states resulting from three dimensional quantum confinements. QD lasers can only be realized till significant improvements in uniformity of QDs with free of defects and increasing QD density as well in recent years. In this paper, we first briefly give a review on the techniques for preparing QDs, and emphasis on strain induced self-organized quantum dot growth. Secondly, self-organized In(Ga)As/GaAs, InAlAs/GaAlAs and InAs/InAlAs Qds grown on both GaAs and InP substrates with different orientations by using MBE and the Stranski-Krastanow (SK) growth mode at our labs are presented. Under optimizing the growth conditions such as growth temperature, V/III ratio, the amount of InAs, InxGa1-xAs, InxAl1-xAs coverage, the composition x etc., controlling the thickness of the strained layers, for example, just slightly larger than the critical thickness and choosing the substrate orientation or patterned substrates as well, the sheet density of ODs can reach as high as 10(11) cm(-2), and the dot size distribution is controlled to be less than 10% (see Fig. 1). Those are very important to obtain the lower threshold current density (J(th)) of the QD Laser. How to improve the dot lateral ordering and the dot vertical alignment for realizing lasing from the ground states of the QDs and further reducing the Jth Of the QD lasers are also described in detail. Thirdly based on the optimization of the band engineering design for QD laser and the structure geometry and growth conditions of QDs, a 1W continuous-wave (cw) laser operation of a single composite sheet or vertically coupled In(Ga)As quantum dots in a GaAs matrix (see Fig. 2) and a larger than 10W semiconductor laser module consisted nineteen QD laser diodes are demonstrated. The lifetime of the QD laser with an emitting wavelength around 960nm and 0.613W cw operation at room temperature is over than 3000 hrs, at this point the output power was only reduced to 0.83db. This is the best result as we know at moment. Finally the future trends and perspectives of the QD laser are also discussed.

Self-assembled InAs quantum wires on InP(001)

Self-assembled InAs quantum wires (QWRs) embedded in In0.52Al0.48As In0.53Ga0.47As, and (In0.52Al0.48As)(2)/(In(0.53)Ga(0.47)AS)(2)-short-period-lattice matrixes on InP (001) were fabricated with molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). These QWR lines are along [110], x4 direction in the 2x4 reconstructed (001) surface as revealed with high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Alignment of quantum wires in a multilayer structure depends on the composition of spacer layers.