Photoluminescence properties of self-organized InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot structures

Optical properties of InGaAs/GaAs self-organized quantum dots (QDs) structures covered by InxGa1-x As capping layers with different In contents chi ranging from 0. 0 (i.e., GaAs) to 0. 3 were investigated systematically by photoluminescence (PL) measurements. Red-shift of the PL peak energies of the InAs QDs covered by InxGa1-xAs layers with narrower linewidth and less shifts of the PL emissions via variations of the measurement temperatures were observed compared with that covered by GaAs layers. Calculation and structural measurements confirm that the red-shift of the PL peaks are mainly due to strain reduction and suppression of the In/Ga intermixing due to the InxGa1-xAs cover layer, leading to better size uniformity and thus narrowing the PL linewidth of the QDs. 1. 3 mum wavelength emission with very narrow linewidth of only 19. 2 meV at room temperature was successfully obtained from the In0.5Ga0.5As/GaAs QDs covered by the In0.2Ga0.8As layer.

Effect of rapid thermal annealing on InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells

We have studied the effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on highly strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells by using photoluminescence (PL) and double-crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) measurements. It is found that a distinct additional PL emission peak can be observed for the annealed samples. This PL emission possesses features similar to the PL emission from InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) with the same indium content. It is proposed that this emission stems from QDs, which were formed during the annealing process. This formation is attributed to the favorable diffusion due to the inhomogeneous strain distribution in the InGaAs layer intersurface. The DCXRD measurements also confirm that the dominant relaxation is strain enhanced diffusion under the low annealing temperatures. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Normal incident infrared absorption from InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot superlattice

The authors report for the first time, normal incident infrared absorption around the wavelength of 13-15 mu m from a 20 period InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot supperlatice (QDS). The structure of a QDS has been-confirmed by cross-section transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by a photoluminescence spectrum (PL). This opens the way to high performance 8-14 mu m quantum dot infrared detectors.

1.3μm InGaAs/InAs/GaAs Self-Assembled Quantum Dot Laser Diode Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

The growth of multi-layer InGaAs/InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots （QDs） by molecular beam epitaxy （MBE） is investigated,and a QD laser diode lasing at 1.33μm in continuous operation mode at room temperature is reported. The full width at half maximum of the band edge emitting peaks of the photoluminescence （PL） spectra at room temperature is less than 35meV for most of the multi-layer QD samples,revealing good,reproducible MBE growth conditions. Moreover,atomic force microscopy images show that the QD surface density can be controlled in the range from 1×10^10 to 7 ×10^10 cm^-2 . The best PL properties are obtained at a QD surface density of about 4×10^10cm^-2. Edge emitting lasers containing 3 and 5 stacked QD layers as the active layer lasing at room temperature in continuous wave operation mode are reported.

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.

Direct observation of coherent spin transfer processes in an InGaAs/GaAs quantum well via two-color time-resolved Kerr rotation measurements

A two-color time-resolved Kerr rotation spectroscopy system was built, with a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser and a photonic crystal fiber, to study coherent spin transfer processes in an InGaAs/GaAs quantum well sample. The femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser plays two roles: besides providing a pump beam with a tunable wavelength, it also excites the photonic crystal fiber to generate supercontinuum light ranging from 500 nm to 1600 nm, from which a probe beam with a desirable wavelength is selected with a suitable interference filter. With such a system, we studied spin transfer processes between two semiconductors of different gaps in an InGaAs/GaAs quantum well sample. We found that electron spins generated in the GaAs barrier were transferred coherently into the InGaAs quantum well. A model based on rate equations and Bloch-Torrey equations is used to describe the coherent spin transfer processes quantitatively. With this model, we obtain an effective electron spin accumulation time of 21 ps in the InGaAs quantum well.

Design and analysis of 1.3 mu m GaAs-based quantum dot vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

A theoretical study on 1.3 mu m GaAs-based quantum dot vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) was made. Investigation of the influence of VCSELs on the optical confinement factors and the optical loss and the calculation of the material gain of the assembled InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots. Analysis of the threshold characteristic was made and the multi-wavelength cavity and multilayer quantum-dot stack structure is found to be more suitable for quantum dot VCSELs.

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.

Silicon doping induced increment of quantum dot density

Low-indium-content self-assembled InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (SAQD) were grown using solid-source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and investigated by atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Silicon, which was doped at different quantum dot (QD) growth stages, markedly increased the density of QD. We obtained high density In0.35Ga0.65As/GaAs(001) quantum dots of 10(11)/cm(2) at a growth temperature of 520degreesC. PL spectra and distribution statistics show the high quality and uniformity of our silicon-doped samples. The density increment can be explained using the lattice-hardening mechanism due to silicon doping.

Atomic hydrogen induced step bunching and fabrication of quantum wire arrays on GaAs (311)A substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

Atomic hydrogen assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is a novel type of epitaxial growth of nanostructures. The GaAs (311)A surface naturally forms one-dimensional step arrays by step bunching along the direction of (-233) and the space period is around 40nm. The step arrays extend over several mum without displacement. The InGaAs quantum wire arrays are grown on the step arrays as the basis. Our results may prompt further development of more uniform quantum wire and quantum dot arrays.

Study of self-assembled InAs quantum dot structure covered by InxGa1-xAs(0 <= x <= 0.3) capping layer

InAs self-assembled quantum dots(QDs) covered by 3-nm-thick InxGa1-xAs(0 less than or equal tox less than or equal to0.3) capping layer have been grown on GaAs(100) substrate. Transmission electron microscopy shows that InGaAs layer reduces the strain in the InAs islands,and atomic force microscopy evidences the deposition of InGaAs on the top of InAs islands when x = 0.3.The significant redshift of the photoluminescence (PL) peak energy and the reduction of PL linewidth of InAs quantum dots covered by InGaAs are observed. In addition,InGaAs overgrowth layer suppresses the temperature sensitivity of PL peak energy. Based on our analysis, the strain-reduction and the size distribution of the InAs QDs are the main cause of the redshift and temperature insensitivity of the PL respectively.

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.

Corrugated surfaces formed on GaAs (331)a substrates: The template for laterally ordered InGaAs nanowires

Morphology evolution of high-index (331)A surfaces during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth have been investigated in order to uncover their unique physic properties and fabricate spatially ordered low dimensional nanostructures. Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) measurements have shown that the step height and terrace width of GaAs layers increase monotonically with increasing substrate temperature in conventional MBE. However, this situation is reversed in atomic hydrogen-assisted MBE, indicating that step bunching is partly suppressed. We attribute this to the reduced surface migration length of Ga adatoms with atomic hydrogen. By using the step arrays formed on GaAs (331)A surfaces as the templates, we fabricated laterally ordered InGaAs self-aligned nanowires.

Molecular-beam epitaxial growth of position controlled InAs islands on cleaved edge of InGaAs/GaAs superlattice

A promising approach for positioning of InAs islands on (110)GaAs is demonstrated. By combining self-assembly of quantum dots with solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on cleaved edge of InGaAs/GaAs superlattice (SL), linear alignment of InAs islands on the InGaAs strain layers have been fabricated The cleaved edge of InGaAs/GaAs SL acts as strain nanopattern for InAs selective growth. Indium atoms incident on the surface will preferentially migrate to InGaAs regions where favorable bonding sites are available. The strain nanopattern's effect is studied by the different indium fraction and thickness of InxGa1-xAs/GaAs SL. The ordering of the InAs islands is found to depend on the properties of the underlying InGaAs strain layers.