Effect of the longitudinal and transverse stacking period of InAs/GaAs quantum dots on the distribution of strain field

A systematic investigation is made on the influence of the longitudinal and transverse period distributions of quantum dots on the elastic strain field. The results showed that the effects of the longitudinal period and transverse period on the strain field are just opposite along the direction of center-axis of the quantum dots, and under proper conditions, both effects can be eliminated. The results demonstrate that in calculating the effect of the strain field on the electronic structure, one must take into account the quantum dots period distribution, and it is inadequate to use the isolated quantum dot model in simulating the strain field.

Room-temperature observation of electron resonant tunneling through InAs/AlAs quantum dots

Molecular beam epitaxy is employed to manufacture self-assembled InAs/AlAs quantum-dot resonant tunneling diodes. The resonant tunneling current is superimposed on the thermal current, and together they make up the total electron transport in devices. Steps in current-voltage characteristics and peaks in capacitance-voltage characteristics are explained as electron resonant tunneling via quantum dots at 77 or 300 K, and thus resonant tunneling is observed at room temperature in III-V quantum-dot materials. Hysteresis loops in the curves are attributed to hot electron injection/emission process of quantum dots, which indicates the concomitant charging/discharging effect. (c) 2006 The Electrochemical Society.

Experiments and their analysis for self-assembly growth of GaN quantum dots via MOCVD

In recent years, growth of GaN-based materials-related quantum dots has become a hot topic in semiconductor materials research. Considerable efforts have been devoted to growth of self-assembled quantum dots of GaN-based materials via MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) and there are a lot of relevant literatures. There is, however, few review papers for the topic. In this paper, different experimental methods for fabrication of quantum dots of GaN-based materials via MOCVD are critically reviewed and the experimental conditions and parameters, which may affect growth of the quantum dots, are analyzed, with an aim at providing some critical reference for the related future experiment research.

Energy spectra of two-electron two-dimensional quantum dots confined by elliptical and bowl-like potentials

The laterally confining potential of quantum dots (QDs) fabricated in semiconductor heterostructures is approximated by an elliptical two-dimensional harmonic-oscillator well or a bowl-like circular well. The energy spectrum of two interacting electrons in these potentials is calculated in the effective-mass approximation as a function of dot size and characteristic frequency of the confining potential by the exact diagonalization method. Energy level crossover is displayed according to the ratio of the characteristic frequencies of the elliptical confinement potential along the y axis and that along the x axis. Investigating the rovibrational spectrum with pair-correlation function and conditional probability distribution, we could see the violation of circular symmetry. However, there are still some symmetries left in the elliptical QDs. When the QDs are confined by a "bowl-like" potential, the removal of the degeneracy in the energy levels of QDs is found. The distribution of energy levels is different for the different heights of the barriers. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.

Capacitance-voltage spectroscopy of In0.5Ga0.5As self-assembled quantum dots in double quantum wells under selective photo-excitation

Selectively photo-excited C-V spectroscopy has been measured in an In0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots (QDs)-embedded, three barrier-two well heterostructure. By comparing with a theoretical capacitance model, the pure capacitive contribution from In0.5Ga0.5As QDs, due to tunnelling coupling between In0.5Ga0.5As QDs and In0.18Ga0.82As quantum well, has been used to obtain the density of charges from photo-excited In0.5Ga0.5As QDs in a very straightforward manner.

Photoluminescence study of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots covered by an InAlAs and InGaAs combination layer

We have fabricated a quantum dot (QD) structure for long-wavelength temperature-insensitive semiconductor laser by introducing a combined InAlAs and InGaAs overgrowth layer on InAs/GaAs QDs. We found that QDs formed on GaAs (100) substrate by InAs deposition followed by the InAlAs and InGaAs combination layer demonstrate two effects: one is the photoluminescence peak redshift towards 1.35 mum at room temperature, the other is that the energy separation between the ground and first excited states can be up to 103 meV. These results are attributed to the fact that InAs/GaAs intermixing caused by In segregation at substrate temperature of 520 degreesC can be considerably suppressed by the thin InAlAs layer and the strain in the quantum dots can be reduced by the combined InAlAs and InGaAs layer. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Optical and electrical characterizations of ZnSe self-organized quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Optical and electrical properties of ZnSe self-organized quantum dots were investigated using photoluminescence, capacitance-voltage, and deep level transient Fourier spectroscopy techniques. The temperature dependence of photoluminescence was employed to clarify the mechanism of photoluminescence thermal quenching processes in ZnSe quantum dots. A theoretic fit on considering a two-step quenching processes well explained the experimental data. The apparent carrier concentration profile obtained from capacitance-voltage measurements exhibits an accumulation peak at the depth of about 100nm below the sample surface, which is in good agreement with the location of the quantum dot layer. The electronic ground state of ZnSe quantum dots is determined to be about 0.11 eV below the conduction band of ZnS, which is similar to that obtained by simulating the thermal quenching of ZnSe photoluminescence.

Influence of combined InAlAs and InGaAs strain-reducing laser on luminescence properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We have fabricated self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) capped by 1 nm In0.2Al0.8As and 5 nm In0.2Ga0.8As strain-reducing layer (SRL). The luminescence emission at a long wavelength of 1.33 mum with narrower half width is realized. A wider energy separation between the ground and first excited radiative transitions of up to 102meV was observed at room temperature. Furthermore, the comparative study proves that luminescence properties of InAs/GaAs QDs overgrown with combined InAlAs and InGaAs SRLs are much better than that of one capped with InGaAs or InAlAs SRL. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Photoluminescence behavior of quantum dots in spherical glass microcavity

Micrometer-sized spherical glass microspheres were fabricated. CdSeS semiconductor nanometer clusters were incorporated into spherical microcavities. When a single microsphere was excited by a laser beam, the whispering gallery mode resonance of the photoluminescence of CdSeS quantum dots in the spherical microcavities was realized by the multiple total internal reflections at the spherical interface. The coupling of restricted electronic and photonic states was realized.

Optical properties of InGaAs quantum dots formed on InAlAs wetting layer

We have fabricated a new self-assembled quantum dot system where InGaAs dots are formed on InAlAs wetting layer and embedded in GaAs matrix. The low-temperature photoluminescence and atomic force microscopy measurements confirm the realization of the structure. In contrast to traditional InAs/Ga(Al)As quantum dots, the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence of the dots in such a structure exhibits an electronically decoupled feature due to a higher energy level of the wetting layer which keeps the dots more isolated from each other. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Exciton states and optical spectra in CdSe nanocrystallite quantum dots

By using the hole effective-mass Hamiltonian for semiconductors with the wurtzite structure, we have studied the exciton states and optical spectra in CdSe nanocrystallite quantum dots. The intrinsic asymmetry of the hexagonal lattice structure and the effect of spin-orbital coupling (SOC) on the hole states are investigated. It is found that the strong SOC limit is a good approximation for hole states. The selection rules and oscillator strengths for optical transitions between the conduction- and valence-band states are obtained. The Coulomb interaction of exciton states is also taken into account. In order to identify the exciton states, we use the approximation of eliminating the coupling of Gamma(6)(X, Y) with Gamma(1)(Z) states. The results are found to account for most of the important features of the experimental photoluminescence excitation spectra of Norris ct nl. However, if the interaction between Gamma(6)(X, Y) and Gamma(1)(Z) states is ignored, the optically passive P-x state cannot become the ground hole state for small CdSe quantum dots of radius less than 30 Angstrom. It is suggested that the intrinsic asymmetry of the hexagonal lattice structure and the coupling of Gamma(6)(X,Y) with Gamma(1)(Z) states are important for understanding the "dark exciton" effect.

The effect of dopant Si on the uniformity of self-organized InAs quantum dots

The photoluminescence in directly si-doped self-organized InAs quantum dots was systematically studied. With doping, a decrease in linewidth and a little blue shift in peak were observed by PL measurement. The results show that direct doping when growing InAs layer may be helpful to the formation of uniform small quantum dots. The work will be meaningful for the fabrication of self-organized InAs quantum dots semiconductor device.

Effect of dopant on the uniformity of InAs self-organized quantum dots

Low-temperature photoluminescence studies have been performed on Si-doped and Be-doped self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) samples to investigate the effect of doping. When Si or Be is doped into the sample, a remarkable decrease in line-width is observed. We relate this phenomenon to a model that takes the Si or Be atoms as the nucleation centers for the formation of QDs. When Si or Be is doped, more small uniform quantum dots are formed. The result will be of significance for the application of self-organized InAs quantum dots in semiconductor devices.

Electronic structures of cubic lattice quantum dots

In this article, we give the electronic structure and optical transition matrix elements of coupled quantum dots (QDs) arranged as different cubic lattices: simple cubic (sc), body-centered cubic (bcc), and face-centered cubic (fcc) superlattices. The results indicate that electron and hole energies of bcc, sc, and fcc superlattices are the lowest, the highest, and the middle, respectively, for the same subband under the same QD density or under the same superlattice constant. For a fixed QD density, the confinement effects in sc, fcc, and bcc superlattices are the strongest, the middle, and the weakest, respectively. There are only one, two, and four confined energy bands, with energies lower than the potential barrier for sc, bcc, and fcc QD superlattices, respectively. The results have great significance for researching and making semiconductor quantum dot devices. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(98)02119-7]

Asymmetric stark shifts of exciton in InAs/GaAs pyramidal quantum dots

Within the framework of the single-band effective-mass envelope-function theory, the effect of electric field on the electronic structures of pyramidal quantum dot is investigated. Taking the Coulomb interaction between the heavy holes and electron into account, the quantum confined Stark shift of the exciton as functions of the strength and direction of applied electric field and the size of the quantum dot are obtained. An interesting asymmetry of Stark shifts around the zero field is found. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.